Homily for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B

 

1 Kgs 17:10-16

Ps 146:7-10

Heb 9:24-28

Mk 12:38-44

 

St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church, Burkburnett, TX

St. Paul Catholic Church, Electra, TX

Christ the King Catholic Church, Iowa Park, TX

Midwestern State University Catholic Campus Center, Wichita Falls, TX

 

Who remembers what the Gospel Acclamation was today? It was one of the Beatitudes - Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Of all the Beatitudes. This pronouncement by Jesus Christ is one of only two that does not promise future comfort for present sufferings. This Beatitude reveals that those who are ‘poor in spirit’ are part of the kingdom of heaven, right here, right now. The Gospel Acclamation begs us to reflect on what it means to be ‘poor in spirit.’

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is with his disciples at the temple in Jerusalem for the Passover feast. The Jewish oral traditions preserved in Mishnah Shequalim 6.5 tell us that the temple treasury contained thirteen trumpet-shaped donation chests, each labelled for various purposes in supporting and maintaining the temple. Back then, the people didn’t use credit cards or Venmo to make donations. All money was metal coinage. So, when someone tossed their offering into one of the chests, it would have made a sound as the metal coins clanked against the metal trumpets. The large sums of money donated by the rich would have made quite a lot of noise, thereby drawing attention to themselves.

Jesus sat down in the treasury area and watched as the people and pilgrims filed past the donation chests. Many people made a big show out of giving a lot of money and making a lot of noise in the process. But then Jesus ‘found the one who His soul loves’ (Song 3:3) - one who was poor in spirit. A poor widow entered the treasury to make her offering. She was one of the anawim – the lowly ones of Israel spoken of in the Old Testament. She was one of the poor and afflicted who find their joy in God alone. Now you must understand, in ancient Israel, widows had no inheritance rights and very few could own property. Widows had to depend on their children, male relatives, or charity for their very survival. This poor widow, faithfully making her Passover pilgrimage, ambled up to one of the chests in the treasury and without fanfare, without drawing any attention to herself, put in two small lepta, the smallest Jewish coin. A shekel would be roughly equivalent to a dollar today. One lepta is one four-hundredth of a shekel. So the widow put in roughly half a penny with her two small coins. The fact that the widow put in two coins instead of just one suggests to us that she did not even withhold from God what she justifiably could have kept to herself.

The rich had drawn attention to themselves with their noisy donations, but the heart of this poor widow drew the attention of Jesus. He became excited and called his disciples to come and see! Something momentous was occurring and he wanted to teach them an important lesson. Jesus declared that this widow put in more than all the others and that shook the disciples to their core! Did not the lofty and large donations of the wealthy contribute far more to the adornment and maintenance of the temple? Was not the widow’s donation practically worthless, so incredibly tiny as to be not worth even mentioning? And there lies the lesson Jesus taught the disciples that day; the lesson He wants us to learn today. God measures the gifts we give back to Him in a totally different way than human do. People usually assign worth based on quantity – how much is given. God assigns worth based on quality – the inner motives of the heart.

All the others in the treasury that day gave their contribution from their surplus – from the overflow they had left after all their needs, wants, and desires had already been taken care of. But the poor widow gave from her poverty of heart. She gave to God what she could not afford; all she had, her entire livelihood. The widow gave not out of her surplus, but out of her substance. Because she held back nothing, she would even have to rely on God for her next meal. The widow was poor in spirit because she was not attached to material things, but instead depended totally and wholly on the Divine Providence of God. She showed a reckless generosity with her gift that paralleled and foreshadowed the self-emptying generosity of God Himself, who did not hold back from us even His only beloved Son. The poor widow exemplifies the poor in spirit, blessed by God, who even now belong to the kingdom of heaven, because the entirety of their treasure lies not in earthly possessions, but in their faithful trust in God.

My friends, we must become like the poor widow, withholding nothing from God. Which of our possessions are we are holding back? Do we give God our time generously in prayer? Do we offer our talents within this community to build up the kingdom? Do we spend our energy extending hearts and hands to welcome and comfort others? To paraphrase St Josemaría Escrivá: ‘We must learn to give what we can whenever we can because the merit is not whether our offering is big or small, but in the intention with which we give it.’ (cf. The Way, 829) Where do we need to grow in faithful trust so that we too can become poor in spirit?

St. Joseph, Lover of Poverty, Pray for Us!