First Reading
1 Kings 17:10-16
In those days, Elijah the prophet went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the entrance of the city, a widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her, “Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink.” She left to get it, and he called out after her, “Please bring along a bit of bread.” She answered, “As the LORD, your God, lives, I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug. Just now I was collecting a couple of sticks, to go in and prepare something for myself and my son; when we have eaten it, we shall die.” Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go and do as you propose. But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son. For the LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth.'” She left and did as Elijah had said. She was able to eat for a year, and he and her son as well; the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, as the LORD had foretold through Elijah.
Second Reading
Hebrews 9:24-28
Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf. Not that he might offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary with blood that is not his own; if that were so, he would have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world. But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by his sacrifice. Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment, so also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.
Gospel Cycle Cycle B
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.”
Widows who have nothing. Widows who must watch their own children die. Widows who are willing to give everything to God and to trust totally in God. Today we are all invited to become more like these widows: willing to have nothing, willing to love our children even as they die, willing to trust totally in God.
The Scriptures give us a strong teaching today. The first widow, in the First Book of Kings, knows that there is no food left, but she will make one last attempt at finding food for herself and her son. Today in so many parts of the world, widows must watch their children die and no miracles seem to happen. Our world turns its face away so often when there is war and terror and even genocide. Then, afterwards, we say that we are sorry.
Of course, most of us think that we cannot be like the Prophet Elijah. Yet we can be like the Prophet! All it takes is getting interested and finding a way to help one widow and one child. Usually bureaucracy slows us down, but often we can find a way to be in contact with real people through other real people. There are so many widows and so many orphans!
We don’t have to promise a miracle the same way that Elijah did. Just if we took interest in some widow or orphan, that would be a miracle.
The Gospel gives us another widow. This one is willing to put all that she has to live on to the temple. We are so grudging about giving even from what we have in excess! That is what these teachings are supposed to put before us. We need only to look around our rooms, our houses and our way of living. How willing are we to give up everything?
We can find ourselves saying that we would give up everything for God. But the clear teaching of the Gospel is that what we do for the least of our sisters and brothers, we do for Jesus Himself.
So today we are invited to look into our consciences and to ask ourselves: do I see God at all in the poor and the rejected? Do I care for those who are in need? Can I be as generous as the widow in the Gospel? Can I be as stalwart as the widow in the First Book of Kings?
Probably all of us must answer: “No, I cannot.” So we come to celebrate the Eucharist, give to us by our Lord Jesus as a testament of His love. May He send His Holy Spirit on us so that we may recognize His presence in everyone on this earth and begin to treat all of our sisters and brothers as true images of God.