Word this week

The 32nd Sunday of the year
1 Kgs 17:10-16; Heb 9:24-28; Mk 12:38-44 (Year B)

“It is the Lord who keeps faith forever. It is he who gives bread to the hungry; the Lord, who sets prisoners free.”

The responsorial psalm rejoices in the God whose graciousness gives bread to the hungry, and whose mercy sets prisoners free. We who pray that the Lord might give us our daily bread, and that he might forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, are surely called to the same grace and mercy.

The grace and mercy to which we are called are qualities of the spirit, the imprint of a loving Creator. They cannot be measured simply in terms of the largesse that we are able to distribute. Frequently they shine through the lives of those most impoverished and downtrodden.

The encounter of Elijah the prophet with the widow of Sidon beautifully illustrates the trust that enables true generosity of spirit. We must understand this story against its setting. The once united kingdom of David and Solomon had degenerated into two competing factions. Power and wealth, rather than trust in God, had become the driving force in a divided land. The prophet Elijah, together with his successor Elisha, was raised up to confront the godless arrogance that had supplanted Israel’s ancient faith.

At a time of drought and famine Elijah was called to seek refuge in a foreign land, the Sidonian town of Zarephath. Trusting only in God, and in the kindness of strangers, Elijah set off as a refugee. At the gate of the town he met a penniless widow and sought refuge with her. A handful of flour was all that stood between her and starvation for herself and her only son. Despite her extreme poverty, she trustingly shared the little she had with this unexpected stranger.

Elijah’s reassurance to the widow reminds us that the grace and mercy we show can only be to our enrichment, and never to our detriment: “Jar of meal shall not be spent, jug of oil shall not be emptied, before the day when the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.”

The Lord has entrusted us with something more precious than oil and flour. He has given himself in selfless love. Such love is not for hoarding.

Jesus condemned the scribes for their acquisitive pride and their exploitation of the poor. Instead he pointed to the trust of a poor widow. With her insignificant temple offering she entrusted her neediness to the God of grace.

We are all beggars in the sight of God. May his Spirit enable our poverty to become his graciousness.