In the first
reading today and in the Gospel reading we meet two widows who are similar.
Both are everyday, hard working women. Both are poor. Both put their trust in
God. Both are rewarded for their faith[1].
The first widow
is from Zarephath[2].
Elijah traveled through this land during a famine. As in all famines, the rich
complain, and the poor starve. The woman was poor. When Elijah met up with her,
she was putting her last scraps together before she and her son would die. Now
a stranger goes up to this woman and asks for food in the name of the Lord.
Elijah also must have been near starvation. Hospitality to strangers was a law
of God. Should the widow turn from God’s law or should she share the little she
had? The woman put her put her total trust in God, and she received enough for
her and her son to eat for a full year.
The second widow
was the one of the Gospel reading who put two small coins into the Temple
treasury. Jesus was people watching, sitting across from the treasury. There
were big shows as some of the wealthy came forward letting everyone know about
their great generosity. After all, the money from the wealthy had paid for most
of the rebuilding of the Temple. What value did the widow’s small coins have
next to their thousands? But Jesus knew how much she was really giving. It was
far more than two small coins. He said that her donation, although it seemed
insignificant, was tremendous because she gave all that she had. Her donation
was an act of putting her faith in God to care for her.
What these two
widows did is extremely difficult for all of us. I know that there are many of
you with great faith, but I also know that no matter how great our faith is, it
is extremely difficult to put our total trust in God. There is something within
us all that looks for solutions to our problems outside of the realm of faith.
Perhaps as rugged individualists we think that we can solve our own problems,
conquer all obstacles ourselves. Certainly, we are all tempted to believe that
the proper amount of cash applied in the right places can heal all ills.
The great
fallacy of our age is that money can solve our problems. It is the job of
advertisers to convince us that we can buy happiness, and the advertisers have
done that well. The fact is that among those who have been blessed with
material success the happiest are those who trust in God not in their wealth.
The radical message of today's readings is that we
must place our confidence in God rather than in our material possessions. This is
difficult for us to do because it demands our practicing the forgotten virtue
of humility. A humble person recognizes where he or she stands before God. A
humble person recognizes his or her profound need for God. A humble person is
certain that the presence of God in his or her life is fundamental to
happiness.
The two widows
gave from their substance. They put their trust in God shouting with their
actions that his presence in their lives was infinitely more important than
anything they owned, even more important than everything they owned. They give
us the example of ideal Christians, humbly trusting in God.
There are times
that we are deeply disappointed in our world, our American society, and even
our fellow Catholics. Gospel values are ignored, or, at least, not given their
proper priority. Many give life issues, from womb to tomb, equal or less weight
than other issues. From grade school through college, our children are immersed
in the glorification of secular values along with the subtle and not so subtle
mocking of all who believe in the spiritual. We turn to the Church, but we find
cold priests and bishops. Along with that we are all still reeling from
scandals that are uncovered and reported ad nauseam.
When we feel
disappointed we need to put our trust in God. No where in Scripture did He say
that His followers would be in the majority. But He did say that He would be
with us. Like the two widows, we need to give Him our all. We need to put our
faith and our trust in Him, and we need to be assured that He sees us; He knows
us, and He cares for us •
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