SundayGospelReflection.org

Gospel Reflection 20061112

Work as if everything depends on us; pray as though everything depends on God.Notice, it’s not work or pray. It's work and pray!

----------

GOSPEL: Mark 12:38-44

In the course of his teaching, Jesus said to the crowds, “Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.” He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”

REFLECTION:

The Pharisees and scribes were the leading experts on the Ten Commandments and on the 613 commandments, and the other rules and regulations, which governed the everyday life of the Jews. As such, they were honored among men and revered in the temple. Unfortunately, most of them let the social “perks” of their position go to their head. It was widely known that many of them did not practice what they preached to the people, and were actually infamous for their lack of justice. Their own comfort was paramount in their dealings. Jesus was determined to expose their hypocrisies. He was much more patient with those Pharisees and scribes who were honest, and who were willing to consider His words.

Our actions reveal what is in our heart. The poor widow alone showed love for God by her contribution. She truly understood the concept of sacrificial giving. The others showed love for themselves and the admiration they would get for a “sacrifice” that caused them absolutely no inconvenience. Jesus Himself had high praise for her true spirit of generosity.

Those who are praised and honored by the world have no more guarantee of eternal happiness than ordinary people have, maybe even less because of the greatness of the temptations to their ego, their pride, and their self-centeredness. For the most part, it is our attitude toward the everyday tasks that are part of family and community living which determines whether they reflect authentic Christian love or mere social and selfish cooperation. Are we better at preaching than we are at practicing our beliefs? Do we put on an appearance of holiness to disguise the fact that we are indulging our desire for human respect?


The Gospel presents even a more striking drama. Jesus instructs the crowd to watch out for the ways of the scribes. These scribes are regarded as important, powerful and holy. A tension begins. Jesus’ ways are different and He is putting Himself in opposition to the religious institution. By calling the pretentious ways of the scribes into question, Jesus sets a context for even a more important teaching.
He condemns the necessities of the scribes to be treated with honor in the marketplaces. They have to wear show-off things and say long prayers which indicate how holy they want others to think they are. In contrast we move to a position opposite the temple coffers.
Again a widow becomes a central character. While the wealthy are putting in more, because they have more, she puts in her little, which is all she has. This ends the chapter and highlights or reinforces last week’s Gospel about loving God and loving the neighbor, which story immediately precedes this Gospel. The widow is in the temple to perform her ritual of loving God according to her religious tradition. She empties her savings to be shared by others, her neighbors. She does not parade her importance, but her actions are significant, that is they point to a deep reality of the ways of Jesus.
Allow me to play with an important word and by doing so, give a deeper meaning to that sacred word. “You-Care-istic” is the result of understanding the Central Mystery of our faith. The first “You” Who cares is Jesus Who cares for us by remaining with us and uniting us. The scribes are seen as caring for themselves, their images. Jesus is seen as caring for the soul-life of His disciples and those who will follow Him. He blesses what is so little and makes much of what seems unimportant. You care for us and our response is to receive and extend Your care.
The second “you” is the person who receives the Littleness made Real. The “amen” is what the widow said to Elijah. Our “amen” is the response to Jesus’ saying “You care for the poor, the needy, the neighbor in whatever condition you find her or him.” “You-Care-Istic” living is how we allow God to bless our small-selves and offer those same blest-selves as real-presences of Jesus.
The scribes made much of their little. They covered themselves with pretenses and lived a “Me-care-Istic” life. Jesus makes much of our “little” and as the widow of the Gospel, Jesus blesses how we will love God and our neighbor as He graces us so we can love ourselves. True, it is difficult to love our fragile, limited, imperfect poor self. Jesus blesses that and says, “You-Care” as I care for you. “You-Care” and I will care through you.
“The Lord keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry.” Ps. 146,7
Blessed be the widow who placed her complete trust in the Divine Providence of God. Blessed are those who persevere in their living faith. Good morning my brothers and sisters in Christ. I hope that you all had a wonderful past week and that this coming week will bring you many more joys in the peace of the Lord Jesus.Have any of you noticed that all three readings spoke of widows? In the First Reading, there is the widow who shared the last of her food with Elijah. In the Gospel, there is the poor widow who gave all that she had to live on. In the Second Reading, although the word 'widow' is not used, we perceive that the Holy Catholic Church that Jesus was instituting on earth during His ministry, it was widowed when He offered Himself as a sacrifice to remove sin from the world.In all three cases, a great sacrifice was made. In the First Reading, the widow who fed Elijah, she sacrificed all what she had for herself and her son. In the Second Reading, Jesus sacrificed Himself, He who was the only Begotten Son of God and in who the fullness of God was pleased to dwell bodily [Col. 1:19, 2:9] In the Gospel Reading, the widow sacrificed her last two small copper coins.In all three cases, they all trusted in God the Father. The widow who fed Elijah trusted in the Lord God of Israel to provide her future needs so she and her son would not die of starvation. Jesus trusted in God the Father to raise Him from the dead. The poor widow who gave her last coins trusted in Yahweh to provide for her future needs.And in all three cases, each and everyone of them were blessed according to their sacrifice. The widow and her son never went hungry because the jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail. Jesus was glorified by God the Father. "When He had made purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the Name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs." [Heb. 1:3b-4] The poor widow, in the presence of God incarnated through Jesus Christ, she gave all what she had to Yahweh, her action having been recorded in the Holy Scriptures so it will be remembered during all the days of the world.God always rewards those who persevere in their living faith. No one goes by unnoticed. If you are proud, you will be noticed. If you are humble, you will also be noticed. If you are proud like the scribes who walked around in long robes so all would greet them with respect in the market places, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquet, then you too, like the scribes, will be noticed and receive greater condemnation. If you are humble like the poor widow who's name no one knows, then you will be noticed, God will raise you and reward you according to your sacrifice.Today's Second Reading tells us that Jesus died once for all time and for all people when He made His perfect sacrifice to remove sin. His Divine Sacrifice as the Lamb of God on the Holy Cross put an end to the first age, the days of the Old Testament and the Covenant of the Law. His Divine Sacrifice as the Lamb of God opened the new and last age in which we now belong, the days of the New Testament and the New Covenant of grace.When Jesus returns at the end of this last age, it will not be to deal with sin by sacrificing Himself again, but to judge the living and the dead. It will be to collect the saints who have persevered in their living faith and who are awaiting for the arrival of the Lord Jesus.We must never forget that God told Abraham that He is the God of the living, not of the dead. [Mt. 22:32] The living are those who shine as lights in the world, those who shine in love towards God and their brothers and sisters.My brothers and sisters, there is no room in Heaven for those who are indifferent, for those who meet the minimum requirements of Christian life so they will be 'acceptable' to God. The Book of Revelations tells us, "I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth." [Rev. 3:15-6]Those who are lukewarm are those who say, "I only go to Church on Sunday because weekdays are not mandatory." They are those who say, "I only give $ 5.00 a week in the collection plate on Sunday because that is all that the others give." They are those who say, "I do not read the Bible, nor do Bible studies, because I know enough about the Scriptures." They are those who say, "I am not getting involved on the Parish Council because I have other worldly pleasures to attend to."Regarding such answers, St. Paul says, "Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect." [Rom. 12:1]The widow who fed Elijah, she knew the will of God. The poor widow who gave her last two coins, she knew the will of God. The Lord Jesus, when He sacrificed Himself on the Holy Cross for our sins, He knew the will of God. All three, they embraced a spiritual mind and did what was good, acceptable and perfect in the eyes of God.This week, let us reflect upon our commitment as members of the Church. Let us assess if we are among the blessed who persevere in their living faith. If we can presently count ourselves among those who will be spit out of the mouth of the Lord because we are indifferent to our sanctification, then, let us embrace the grace of God and the purifying power of the Holy Spirit so we may become Christlike to qualify as children of God.
Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Mark 12:41-44A government social worker was visiting New England farms. He had the authority to give federal dollars to poor farmers. He found an elderly widow farming a few acres. Her house was clean but tiny. There did not appear to be much food in the house. The windows had no screens to keep out the summer flies. The exterior needed a paint job. He wondered how she could survive. He asked, "What would you do if the government gave you five hundred dollars?" Her answer was, "I would give it to the poor."She was similar to the widow whom Daniel Webster had in mind. He was asked, "What moved you to become a Christian?" He replied, "Studying the way an old woman in New Hampshire lived."The women of these two stories had much in common with today's Gospel widow. They were obviously cut out of the same bolt of exquisite damask. All three have much to tell us.Do most Catholics give a fair share of their income to the Church and to charities? A Gallup poll answered that query. In a recent year, American Catholics gave 1.3% of their income to parish and charities. But Protestants gave 2.4% and Jews 3.8%.Our comparative tightness with our dollars comes despite Rousseau's admonition. "When a man dies, he carries in his hands only that which he has given away." We would do well to recall the question asked about the wealthy man who died. "How much money did he leave? The answer came promptly. "All of it!"Who of us has ever seen a U Haul hitched to a hearse? The title of a 1938 film says it all: You Can't Take It With You.The Nazarene must appreciate the boldness of those who tithe. Incidentally He Himself did the same in the synagogue at Nazareth for most of His adult life. A survey reveals while 44% of Baptists tithe, but 4% of Catholics do. Giving 10% of one's income to the church and charities can be a frightening sum to consider. But those who do it testify that God has never let them down. Most of us are just too fearful of finding out whether that will be the case. So, we shall die wondering. And, more than likely, we are destined to die with regrets.Research by Patrick Carney revealed that the highest percentage of Catholic contributions in the New York diocese comes from African-Americans in Central Harlem. Most of us Caucasians have higher incomes than the majority of these people. But they have more in common with the woman of Mark's Gospel than we. These people would remind us that faith motivates people to open their wallets. Perhaps they have in mind Paul's advice in 2 Corinthians 9:7, "God loves a cheerful giver."Bertrand Russell wrote, "To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness."Too often the comfortable give to God as though they were poor. And the poor give to Him as though they were wealthy.Many Catholics are more generous to waiters than to God. They give up to 20% of their bill. That is double-tithing. They would be embarrassed and afraid to give to waiters what they giveto God. He deserves not a tip but a tribute.Someone has enumerated four different types of giving. The first is called grudge giving. I hate to part with this twenty dollars but I will. The second is shame giving. I must match whatever the Jones family is giving. The third is calculated giving. We part with our money with what, someone deliciously called, a "lively sense of favors to come." Bingos, Las Vegas nights, and raffle tickets fit in very nicely in this category. The final category is thanksgiving. I part with my funds precisely because God has been so wonderfully generous to me. The widow of today's Gospel fits comfortably into this area.This tale also points up another truth about our Christian selves. The majority of us do not fully give ourselves to the Christ. We are marking time with our Catholic lives. We are hedging our bets. The clever Mark situates his famous story during the last week in the life of the Nazarene. None too subtly he is reminding us that in a few days He will give His life for us on Calvary. What do we give Him in return?Thus the Gospel reminds us that we should give, in Cardinal Mercier's words, not only what we have but also what we are.Remember this epitaph on an English gravestone. "What I kept I lost. What I spent I had. What I gave I have."


Justice for the Poor Today’s first reading and Gospel reading present two widows. In ancient times if a man died and there was no an adult son to protect and support her, the widow’s life was precarious. She would often have to beg for food for herself and her children. The widow in the first reading from the First Book of Kings was trying to survive a famine. She was about to cook the last of her food for herself and little boy before they died. No one cared about her, no one except God who sent the prophet Elijah to reward her generosity. Elijah’s successor as prophet for Israel, Elisha, came upon another widow who cried to him, “Creditors have come to take my two children away as slaves.” She had no defender. She was at the mercy of dishonest judges. She was blessed because God performed a miracle for her thought the prophet Elisha. He told her to gather all the empty oil jugs and jars she could find, and pour the little oil she had into each jug. She filled them all and then sold the oil to pay off her debts and save her children (2 Kings 4:1-7). In today’s Gospel Jesus attacks the scribes who devour the houses of widows. The Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Scriptures place a curse on anyone who would deprive widows of justice, but the fact of the matter is that shrewd businessmen found ways around the laws to take advantage of these defenseless women. The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah and Malachi all note that the land suffers the sin of those who abuse the widows. Perhaps, you might remember Naomi from the Book of Ruth. When her husband and sons died, she was left without any support. She sent her daughters in law to their homes for their own protection. One, Orpah, went back to her father’s house, the other, Ruth, stayed with Naomi to care for her and protect her. You might remember Naomi returning to Bethlehem with Ruth and crying to the people there, “No longer call me Naomi, a name that means “pleasant”. Instead, call me Mara, a name that means “bitter”. Ruth and Naomi survived on salvaging whatever was left over in the barley fields after the harvesters finished their work. Now, returning to the widow of the Gospel reading, Jesus’ statement that she gave from her poverty her whole livelihood, could be seen as a praise of her generosity. It could also be seen as a condemnation of society who had left her so destitute that she, like the widow of Zeraphath, had nothing left to rely on than her certain death. The others gave from their surplus, she gave all that she had left. How had this happened? Had bankers mismanaged her money so that she had lost the little she had? Had religious leaders encouraged her to impoverish herself for the sake of the Temple treasury? How had it happened that society could take advantage of the destitute? How does it happen that society continues to take advantage of those who have no protection? Pope John Paul II wrote quite a lot about the sinful structures of society and situations of sin. This Pope who had suffered through the reign of Nazi terror in Poland and the destruction of thought by the communists and had experienced the plight of the poor and worship of materialism of the capitalists wrote about the ideologies that have held and continue to hold the world hostage to sin. Yet, he did not see these ideologies as some sort of beings in their own rights. Rather, these ideologies, be they Nazism, Communism or Materialistic Capitalism, were constructed in a way that they profit by preying upon the helpless. They were established and supported by people whose sum total of personal sins turned them into vehicles for their illicit gain. Those who formed and supported the Nazi’s concept and glorification of Aryan supremacy saw their union as an opportunity to steal the goods and lands of those of other people be they Jews within Germany or Europe or gypsies, Poles, Slavs, etc. The Nazis were not aliens from another world. They were people like you and me who under the guise of nationalism saw an opportunity to profit from the weakness of others. It was the sum total of personal sins that formed Nazism. In the same way, communism as it evolved, or devolved, in the Twentieth Century, was not a matter of the ideals of workers sharing equally in the profit of their work. Instead, communism was a destruction of all morality by those who wished to steal the goods of some for the sake of others. Morality and Twentieth Century communism could not exist, therefore, God had to be eliminated from the communist country. But the communists were also not aliens from anther planet. They were people who sought to take advantage of others by devising a religion of the social order to replace the spirituality of God. But enough about other people and other ideologies. Materialistic Capitalism has progressed, or regressed, into a complete disregard for the rights of the impoverished for the sake of the wealthy. If people in Latin America, Asia or Africa are living a substandard existence so that Europeans and Americans can benefit from cheaper labor, so be it. If their children have to work in factories so our children can have cheaper sneakers, so be it. How has our society come to this? Materialistic Capitalism did not fall out of the sky. It resulted from the number of people who firmly believe that the wealthy have the right to take advantage of the poor. Some will actually say, “Might makes right.” Others will actually sight an economic application of Darwinian evolution, “the right people get the stuff, the wrong people don’t.” They will say and believe that the present situation of people in the world, the division of the world into the haves and have nots, is merely the survival of the fittest. Materialistic Capitalism, like Nazism and Communism, is the sum total of personal sins, the decision to take advantage of the less fortunate for personal gain. The world needs healing. A doctor will tell you that the first step to healing is to recognize the sickness. We need to be aware that to the extent that we participate in the concept that some must lose so others can gain, we are uniting our personal sins of greed and materialism to the sum total of a sinful society. It is not that wealth is bad. What is wrong and sinful is using improper means to gain wealth. What is wrong and sinful is wasting wealth without regard to the poor around us. We need a greater awareness of our responsibility to the formation of a Christian society. People should not marvel that a widow had nothing left to live on and gave to the Temple Treasury as a last hope before dying. People should rejoice that the poor are cared for by the rich. Indeed, the strength of a society is measured by the care it gives to its weakest members.



God Gives It All(November 12, 2006)Bottom line: God gives it all - and then calls us to share. We will only find happiness when, like the widow, we make a hundred percent return to him. This Sunday we focus on Stewardship. I want to begin by putting your minds at ease. I am not going to ask you to tithe. Nor am I going ask you to give five percent or even one percent. What I am going ask you for is this: The same that Jesus did - everything, one hundred percent. We see that in today's Gospel. Even though wealthy people made large contributions, Jesus praised the widow who gave two small coins. Why did he single her out? Jesus tells us: "She, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood." Jesus wants to turn our lives upside down, to have a complete change of heart. This is vital for Stewardship. Our theme this year is: God gives it all- then calls us to share. That is the key to happiness. I would like to illustrate this by first talking about Stewardship of Time. What I value most is time. I don't think I am alone. I have noticed young people trying to accomplish two or more tasks at once: talking on the cell phone, listening to the radio, eating a snack - and driving a car. All of us value our time; it is the most precious gift we can give to one another - and to God. Last week we asked you to make a conscious commitment of at least two hours a week to prayer and service, beginning with participation at weekly Mass. That is where we have to start. God gives it all: One hundred and sixty-eight hours a week. Besides Sunday Mass many people made a commitment to pray together with their family, to say grace at meals, to do Scripture reading and Eucharistic Adoration. They also made explicit the time they wanted to spend with members of their family or helping in the community. God gives it all - then calls us to share. When I start the day with that attitude, I find that God does give me time for the things that matter - including things like walking my dog, reading a book and talking with friends. But it is not my time. God gives it all. If you have made commitment to Stewardship of Time, you have already done the hard part. Stewardship of Treasure should be easy. Even so, I sometimes find myself reluctant to ask people to give because they are often stretched - especially young families dealing with debts and unpaid bills. But, you know, an amazing thing happens when we recognize that God gives it all. When we give the first portion back to him, things start to change. I know people who have tithed their way out of debt. They set aside the first ten percent for God - and the rest fell into its proper place. Now, as I said in the beginning, I am not asking you to tithe. Recognize that God gives it all and then decide what part you will give back to him through supporting your parish. For some, that will mean five percent, for others, ten; for others, something else. That is between you and God - but as your pastor I would like to know so I can prudently form a budget plan for our parish. That's why I am asking you to fill our Stewardship card: so your giving will be planned, deliberate, conscious and sacrificial. As you make your decision, you have before you the example of the widow in today's Gospel. Do you ever wonder what happened to that beautiful woman? Was she like the widow in the first reading - making one last gesture before she died? Or, once again like the Old Testament widow, did God provide for her in some unexpected way? In the Sixth Chapter of Acts we hear about widows whom the apostles and deacons cared for. Was she part of that group? We don't know. What we do know is that her extraordinary gift is not only an example for us, but it actually mirrors God's love. When he gives, he lets go - just like the widow did. He calls to share, but he does not force us. God gives us time, abilities and financial resources. Then he calls us to share. **********



32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B—2006 HomilyWe have two widows in our readings today: the widow who fed Elijah and the widow who put her mite into the temple treasury. Neither of these widows are given a name and they were both poor, but the most important thing about them was that they were open-handed with what little they had.Both these widows are rightly praised in the scriptures. Widows were at the bottom of the social heap and because of this they were frequently exploited and oppressed and this was invariably condoned by the structures of society.By definition a widow has known suffering since she has experienced bereavement. She has suffered the loss of her husband, the loss of protection, the loss of status, the loss of income and in those days she experienced deep social stigma. In all these ways she is poorer in the eyes of this world; but of course, for the very same reasons she is that much richer in the eyes of JesusIn the text Jesus points out this particular widow in the temple, not so much for praise as for comparison with the scribes he has just so roundly condemned. The exaggeration involved –she gave all she had to live on– is probably a bit of an exaggeration and surely illustrates Jesus' intent to show the scribes up.The link between the two halves of this extract from the Gospel is additionally highlighted by the fact that there are widows in both segments. Jesus accuses the scribes of showing off in the synagogue while at the same time swallowing the property of widows; he then goes on to point out the generosity and great sacrifice of the widow with the two small coins.Jesus makes a very severe charge against the scribes. But there was a good reason for this charge. An expert in the law was supposed to take no payment for his teaching; it was to be something he did for free alongside other more remunerative work. However, the Pharisees had, by this time, convinced the people that there was no greater religious privilege than supporting a Pharisee or a scribe and so enable him to devote himself entirely to the study of the law.Widows among many others were imposed on to keep the scribes and Pharisees in the manner to which they had become accustomed. There was undoubtedly a good deal of male chauvinism mixed in with this as well as taking advantage of their religious position.Jesus openly condemns them for their actions. First for their privileges and arrogance and then for exploiting their position to better themselves financially.These are charges that can be made against the religious establishment not only then, but also now, and indeed at almost any time in-between. Those who are chosen for religious service must always keep in mind that they are chosen for precisely that: service, not privilege.You are not chosen because you have somehow earned high office and privilege, but because others have determined that you have the necessary gifts to serve the community and are able to help meet their religious needs. That is what the word ministry means, service.A priest or a bishop does deserve a certain amount of respect. But it is respect for what he represents. This is actually respect for Christ being paid to him through his representative. Actually all of us gathered here are Christ's representatives and we all owe respect to each other, not more to one or less to another depending on the office they hold.We have heard in recent years how certain priests have abused their position of trust and how this has on occasion been deliberately ignored by those in authority. We don’t need to go into the matter now but just to say that while a lot of lessons have been learned we must all be on the alert and implement the appropriate procedures when necessary especially in the matter of Child Protection.Last Sunday we heard Jesus telling us that the greatest commandment was to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, all our minds and all our strength and our neighbour as ourselves.This highlights the fact that in the exercise of our ministry sheer goodness is not enough. We have also to use not just our heart, but also all our intelligence and all our strength.There are very many people engaged in ministry in this parish. Some serve in the ordained ministry as priests and deacons, some as religious, as catechists, as Eucharistic ministers, as altar servers, as teachers, as readers and writers, as musicians and singers, as flower arrangers, as cleaners, as members of the parish council, on the social club committee, in the Octopus theatre group, in the various uniformed organisations and societies and in all kinds of other ways.And we are all also engaged in ministry with those we live and work with, but most especially towards our own children.Yes, we have to carry out our various ministries with great goodness and purity of heart, but also with great intelligence, also open to new developments in thinking, and in a way which is constantly on the alert to root out cosy assumptions which exclude or inadvertently hurt others.The clergy are easily criticised for clericalism and rightly so where it exists, but every single one of us must be on the alert for our own particular areas of neglect.Like those widows we exercise ministries of service, but the fact that we carry them out from the goodness of our hearts is insufficient. We must carry them out with intelligence, with insight, with great responsibility, with appropriate openness to new ideas and in a self-critical manner.If we don't, we fall into precisely the same trap as the scribes and Pharisees. They received the lash of Jesus' tongue –we surely don't want to expose ourselves to anything worse.




November 12, 2006Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary TimeMark 12: 38-44Gospel SummaryThe Scribes mentioned in today's gospel were not a religious sect, as were the Pharisees and Sadducees. They were simply men who knew how to read and write--a distinct minority in those days. Illiterate people depended on them for help in preparing documents, such as contracts, and this gave them considerable power and prestige in the community. But it also tempted them to become proud and to consider themselves above the laws that govern ordinary people.It is important to note that Jesus does not condemn them because they are more learned than most. They deserve condemnation only because their pride leads them to unjust behavior. Being able to control judicial processes enables them to defraud vulnerable people, such as widows.In the second half of the gospel passage, we note a contrast between the heartless Scribes, who prey on widows, and a poor widow who puts them to shame because of her generosity. Her "widow's mite" is proportionately far more generous than larger and ostentatious gifts given out of abundance. Others give from their surplus, while she gives from her livelihood. Nor does she seek in any way to advertise her piety.Life ImplicationsIn our world, knowledge is so readily available that we often do not realize what a precious possession it is. There is real power in knowledge and this kind of power, like power in general, can be very corrupting. Such abuse of knowledge occurs when it leads to pride, to odious comparisons with less favored persons and even to abuses, such as sharp dealings and other forms of injustice. We know also how easy it is for the more learned to take advantage of the naïve and vulnerable ones. Such "white collar crime" is rarely punished adequatelyÉbut God knows who is guilty.On the other hand, knowledge can be used in very helpful and positive ways. Good teachers have a precious opportunity to deliver people from the very real bondage of ignorance. I know from personal experience how gratifying it is to see a listless student begin suddenly to grasp the importance of learning and then to blossom into one who becomes hungry for knowledge. This is truly like finding a treasure in a field, which leads to profound gratitude on the part of a student empowered in this way to explore a world of wonderful opportunities. Wealth is even more obviously a form of power. It can be abused through avarice and greed, but it can also provide a wonderful opportunity for service. The generosity of wealthy persons can liberate less fortunate ones from the bondage of misery and insecurity. Investing in the poor is a most wise and provident use of one's resources. The Scribes had some knowledge and wealth but that was of little value to them at the end. The simple, poor widow turned out to have chosen the path to supreme knowledge and wealth beyond measure.




THIRTY-SECOND Sunday 1 Kings 17, 10-16; Psalm 146; Hebrews 9, 24-28; St. Mark 12, 38-44 Generosity from each, according to the capabilities of each, is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Whether one, like the widow, has a mere mite, or whether, like the Pharisees, perhaps much more, all should give not from their excess but from their want. Generosity is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal glory. The tradition of the Church lists twelve of them: "charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity." (Galations 5:22-23.) (CCC 1832)St. Paul's letter to the Philippians speaks of the generosity of the Christian community which should serve as an example for unbelievers. Those who are generous are laying up treasure in heaven.It was kind of you to want to share in my hardships... Even when I was at Thessalonica you sent something for my needs, not once, but twice. It is not that I am eager for the gift; rather, my concern is for the ever-growing balance in your account... My God will supply your needs fully, in a way worthy of his magnificent riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4: 14, 16, 17,19.)It is not money that people have difficulty in giving today. It is loving and unconditional acceptance for every human life that is wanting. Openness of married couples to new life by the shunning of artificial methods of birth regulation, loving and respectful acceptance for all pregnant women and mothers, financial assistance to women and children, furthering the cause of life by working to elect leaders who are friendly to life; all of these and more are the ways that we can be generous in an age of unprecedented stinginess with regard to human life. Let us be unambiguously pro-life in the midst of a culture of death. I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy" -Fr. Cusick(See also paragraphs 678, 2444 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.)




Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle BReadings: 1 Kings 17: 10-16; Hebrews 9: 24-28; Mark 12: 38-44Hear the SilenceIntroductionThe Hebrew word for "widow" means "unable to speak." In Biblical times the husband always spoke for his wife. If her husband died, the widow had no one to speak for her. Hence, a widow was "the silent one." Widowhood meant "silence."In today's gospel the widow dropped her last two coins into the collection basket. With no other coins to jingle in her purse, her purse was silent. A silent widow with a silent purse. Jesus heard the silence, and said, here is a woman of great faith.Giving Her Last PennyToday we hear about two widows. One with a cup of flour and a little oil. She'll bake some bread for herself and her son, then, after they've eaten, they'll have no more food, and they'll die. The second widow has only two coins to her name, and these coins she drops into the poor box. With no more money, she too waits to die.Both widows in dire straits. In fact, in Biblical times all widows struggled. If a woman's husband died, according to the law she could either marry a brother of her deceased husband or she could move back to her father's house. Most often, neither wanted her and the widow was left to fend for herself. Her children were treated as orphans.There were no jobs for widows. A woman's place was in the home, it was the man who went out to work and earn a living. A widow could gather a little food by going through the fields after harvest, picking up the few missed gains of wheat. Mostly widows were left destitute, living from hand to mouth.To make matters worse, widows were easy prey to shysters. Jesus says the scribes "devoured the houses of widows." That is, scribes would charge widows for prayers. Or, acting as trustees scribes would help themselves to what money widows might have. Gradually, the scribes got everything the widow had, leaving her penniless.Then, add another problem for the widow in the reading from First Kings. There was a famine. After King Ahab married Jezebel, King Ahab allowed worship of the pagan god Baal. Gave Baal devotion equal to Yahweh. To teach the Hebrew people that Yahweh is God, God sent a three year drought. Here's a destitute widow trying to survive in the middle of a famine.Wow! Bad news, being a widow in Biblical times. No husband meant no one to earn a living, no one to defend the widow against greedy scribes. Her children treated as orphans, the widow often was reduced to a starvation existence.Down But Not OutMost of us cannot understand the poverty these widows experienced. Being that poor, well beyond our imagination.The Jesuit priest Father Anthony de Mello wanted to taste that kind of poverty. Living in India, he gave away all he owned. He slept on the streets, begged for his food. Then, on day, he saw a desperately poor man stretched out beside the road, dying. Father de Mello thought to himself, if that were me someone would recognize me as a Jesuit priest and take me to the hospital. And, that's the point. He would never be able to experience the desperation poverty caused the dying man. Because Father de Mello could still choose how to live his life. As long as we have some control over our lives, we are not poor like the widows.In our country we do not let the poor get as poor as the widows in the Bible. We have safety nets. When someone needs food, they are welcome at our St. Vincent de Paul food pantry, or Loaves and Fishes will give assistance. When a person has no place to sleep, there's Anthony House or the Coalition for the Homeless. Government programs help the poor. Food stamps and subsidized housing and Medicaid. With our safety nets, no one starves like did the widows in the Bible.Mostly what we mean when we say we're poor is that we cannot afford to buy what we want to buy. Our want list longer than our bank account. I recall Jay, the teenage son of a divorced mother. When dad was at home, a trip to the mall always resulted in a designed shirt or two. Now, mom tells Jay she cannot afford designer cloths. Same pulling back when downsized or laid off. A middle manager out of work, only work he could find was a job paying half what he had been earning. That meant, with less to spend going out to dinner only once a month instead of once a week.We need not dwell on this. Fact is, no body in this country is as poor as the widows in the Bible. The two widows gave their last penny with no hope of getting any more money, giving knowing they'd starve -- really beyond what we can imagine.Guidelines for GivingWhat's Christ say? Jesus compliments the widows for their generosity, and warns against the scribes. There are some lessons for us.A first lesson: true giving is measured by what's left. The gospel says, "Many rich people put in large sums, the poor widow put in two coins. The rich gave from their surplus, the widow gave all she had." Note, Jesus only compliments the widow. Giving from poverty got the compliment. Measuring what's left means that we give so much we have to change our lifestyle. True giving gives first to God, then pays the bills. If there's not enough money to pay the bills, we cut back on spending. Measuring what's left means our priority is God, that we are attached more to God than to our possessions.Another lesson: trust God will take care of you. After the first widow used all her flour and all her oil to bake a biscuit for the prophet Elijah, never again did her jar of flour get empty, nor did her jug of oil run dry. God provided.Here's a modern day story of such trust. A lady, crippled by polio, blamed God for her handicap. Her heart filled with anger. For years she saved to purchase a handicap van, so she would not have to pull herself out of the wheelchair into the car seat. Then, money saved, instead of buying the van she gave the money to her church for a building program. Because, as she felt the love shown her by fellow parishioners, her angry heart softened. Know what happened? The men's group bought her a van. Trust God, God will provide.Another lesson: don't be like the scribes, showy, wearing their piety on their sleeves, making certain everyone saw their prayer boxes and fancy robes. To continue the story: the men's group who gave the lady the van, it was an anonymous gift. The lady never knew who gave her the van. Jesus teaches us lessons in giving. That we need have no fear in giving, because God will provide. Jesus tells us not to be showy, not to give so people will see much we give. And, Jesus teaches us, make God our priority.ConclusionSober readings today. Our Lectionary tells us what gospel to read each Sunday, so that in the course of three years, we read every passage of the four gospels. Even the sobering readings. Today we might remember that heading the list in God's Who's Who is an unknown widow in Jerusalem, a widow who put her last penny into the poor box.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa is very fond of this joke: When the missionaries came to Africa, we had the land and they had the Bible. Then they said, “Let us pray ...,” and asked us to close our eyes. By the time the prayer was over, they now had the land and we had the Bible. And he usually ends the joke by adding, “And I think we got the better deal.” In this joke we have a substantiation of Karl Marx’s criticism of the Christianity of his day as the “opiate of the people,” – that which puts people to sleep while the ground under their feet is taken away from them. In today’s gospel Jesus warns his followers against religious leaders who propagate this kind of anaesthetic religiosity. “Beware of the scribes, who ... devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation” (Mark 12:38-40). In the second half of the gospel reading, the story of the Widow’s Mite, we see a tragic example of the product of this kind of religiosity. Jesus commends the victim but condemns the victimiser.
Last week we read about the scribe who asked Jesus about the first of the commandments. In the end Jesus gave him his word of encouragement and commendation: “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34). Soon after that, in today’s reading, Jesus warns his followers against the scribes who were going to receive a great condemnation. What is the crucial difference between the Good Scribe who was commended last week and the generality of scribes who are condemned this week. The Good Scribe earned Jesus’ approval when he agreed with Jesus that practical love of God and neighbour “is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:33). In other words, the generality of the scribes believed in “Temple before people” but the Good Scribe, by listening to Jesus, was able to arrive at the Gospel position of “people before Temple.” This is the position of those on the way to the kingdom of God. The needs of flesh-and-blood women and men come before the need to maintain the sacrificial routine of the Temple.
Traditionally we have read the Widow's Mite story as a story about boundless generosity and self-sacrifice. But we should first read it in the context in which Mark wrote it, as a tragic evidence of the religious exploitation for which Jesus condemned the Temple religious establishment. Before reading the story as a model to encourage generosity to organised religion we need to read it first as a condemnation of the use of religion to exploit simple, suffering and powerless humanity. Jesus is teaching in the Temple. He has just condemned the unscrupulous scribes who devour widows’ property under the pretext of religious fervour. Then he looks over and sees this widow putting “everything she had, her whole living” into the treasury and he points to her and says, “See what I mean?” The scribes never literally robbed widows’ houses. But by their teaching they exploited widows by persuading them in their privation to give up even the very little they had.
It’s like what happened at the World's Fair in San Francisco in 1939. One of the attractions was a pile of money said to total $1,000,000. For 25 cents, visitors were allowed to touch the money. Poor people spent their last quarter to have a momentary brush with affluence. But did that make them any richer? No, only 25 cents poorer? False ideas nourishing false hopes can rob the poor even of the little they have.
Jesus commends the exploited widow. Why? Does Jesus approve of the process that has reduced her to the state of indigence? No. Jesus praises her for her sincere and total trust in God, not for the sorry fact that the religious establishment was taking advantage of it. In the final analysis, in the kingdom of God, between the victimiser and the victimised, it is always the victimised who gets the better deal, as Desmond Tutu rightly remarked.
In the male-dominated society of New Testament Palestine, the widow would symbolise all who have no voice, no means and no power. Who would such people be today? Do we as individuals and as a church reach out to such people to help them improve their lot. Or do we only tell them to pray harder and everything would be all right, knowing quite well that it takes more than prayer to revive their fortunes? Is Christianity a powerless gospel that opiates the people and maintains the status quo or is it the good news that liberates and transforms personal and social life? We know the answer in theory. Let us show it in practice.

posted by Mike Young @ 6:19 AM