Deacon
Tom writes
“Only In God”
In the course of today’s readings
we encounter several women who have remarkably strong faith. They are women whose
actions demonstrate their dependence upon God to provide for all their needs,
even for the most basic necessities of life! We know neither of their names only that they share a common
bond, that of widowhood. Being a widow was tantamount to being assigned to a
most difficult and arduous station of life in the patriarchal society of the
bible, and it remains such to this day. The loss of a husband meant a life of
poverty. It reduced a woman to a life of begging and dependency upon the acts
of charity from others in the community.
Despite her direful plight, the
first widow we encounter in the Book of Kings offers the Prophet Elijah
hospitality. She and her young son have only a “handful of flour… and a little oil” and that’s it. The widow and
her son are themselves far beyond the bounds of destitution and yet she
willingly makes “a little cake” for
the Prophet leaving nothing
for herself and her son! Yet, “the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the
jug of oil run dry!”
In the Gospel Jesus notices what’s
taking place at the Temple offering. “Many
rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small
coins worth a few cents”.
Jesus comments that this woman did not contribute from her wealth as the
others did, “but from her poverty…she
contributed all she had, her whole livelihood”.
These women teach us of a deep and
trusting faith in God, lessons very appropriate for us today. They teach us not
from their head, but from their heart and from their deep-seated experiences of
life. Do we give to others from our surplus or from our need? This is a difficult question for us to
wrestle with, but one that is certainly worth the effort. If we spend some time
thinking about this question it may lead us to reflect on an underlying
struggle we face often in this life – that is, how much do we really trust that
God will be there in our time of need, whatever that “need” might be.
There is an aspect to these
widow’s faith that reflects Christ’s complete self-giving, his pouring himself
out completely for our sake, Christ’s “kenosis” as St. Paul writes in
Philippians 2:7, in which Christ surrenders his own will to the divine will of
his Father. This complete giving
of self is a gift from God that scripture reveals mostly in the lives of the poor
and lowly ones, such as these widows we encounter today. They teach us that God cannot be
outdone in generosity. Their
strong faith enables them to trust God completely, to trust “only
in God” in all things, not
only for all the necessities of the present moment but for all future needs
also.
May our faith grow to be like
theirs so we too willingly give all …even our whole livelihood…for the greater
glory of God.
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
No comments:
Post a Comment