Last week Jesus challenged us with the great commandment which is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Our readings this week give us two radical examples of how to do just that. We begin by trusting in God.
We are to trust as did the widow of Zarephath from our first reading and the poor widow giving her last two coins to the temple treasury in the Gospel,“…she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood” (Mk 12:44). Each of these women were practicing a spiritual physics and being generous that defied what appeared to be the reality before them. Each had barely anything, one her last meal and the other her last two coins, yet they gave all they had, trusting that God would provide for them. They trusted in God’s providential care.
Each of us, the baptized, are the Church, and as we gather together each week to worship, we receive encouragement, seek to learn and grow deeper our faith, become transformed by the Body and Blood of Jesus made present again in the Eucharist, and pray for the needs of our world. This is a good way to build a foundation of loving God, self, and neighbor.
As people of faith we are to aspire to care for one another and creation, to resist the temptation to divide, demean, and define people as other and instead see each other as God sees us, as brothers and sisters. Elijah and the widow of Zarephath saw each other as human beings not people of different ethnicity or faith traditions. Each were in need, trusted in God, and supported one another.
St. Mother Teresa often recounted a story in which she brought a cup of rice to a Hindu woman because she knew how hungry her and her children were. As soon as the woman received the rice, she poured half into another container and left. When she came back Mother asked her where she went. The woman said, “They are hungry too.” “They”, were her Muslim neighbors.
Are we willing to have the kind of trust as these three women did? Do we have the courage to give not out of our excess but out of our need? On our own, most likely not. That is why God invites us to pray and spend time with him in our communal worship so we experience Jesus’ radical gift of himself in his word proclaimed and Body and Blood shared for us. He was willing to give himself, all of himself, holding nothing back.
Jesus gave his life for each one of us, what are we willing to give in return? Often we hedge our answer to this question because we are placing our trust not in God but in something else. For where our treasure is, there our heart lies. We would do well to meditate upon the accounts of the widow of Zarephath, the woman with two coins, and the Hindu woman this week. Meditating upon how each were willing to give the little they had, each expressing extravagant generosity, each trusting in God may help us to open our hearts and minds to the extravagance and generosity of God’s love for us so that we can trust him more and give as he invites us to give.
Painting credit: The Widow’s Mite by James Christensen
Spiritual Stepping Stones