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Dear Parish Family,
Giving away bread when you are hungry!
Reflecting on the stories of widows I am reminded of a Movie project I accepted to produce while in Kenya. The script was written by Sr. Dr Dominic Dipio, a Ugandan nun, who was a literary icon from Makarere University. The movie “A Meal to Forget” based on a real event, told the poignant story of a father who took the lives of his children with a special meal rather than see them die slowly of starvation. Poverty is real in many parts of the world and the poor must make hard choices. The first reading and the Gospel today present poor widows who took the bold decisions and gave their whole lives and means of livelihood to God. Today’s liturgy also reveals some important facts about the poor.
1) The poor are blessed because they have a greater recognition of their need for God. The two widows in the readings give up everything, totally trusting in the goodness of the Lord. 2) The poor are therefore more generous than others. Jesus made it very clear that “this poor widow contributed more than all the others who donated to the treasury.” Recent studies in the United States reveal the same phenomenon: relative to their resources, lower income people are the most generous. 3) The poor may or may not have society on their side, but there is no doubt where God stands. Our responsorial Psalm tells us that the Lord “secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry, sets captives free, gives sight to the blind, raises up those that were bowed down, protects strangers, and sustains the fatherless and the widow.”
Real poverty, even though it is dehumanizing on so many levels, can allow a person to see clearly and to know his or her need for God. Spiritual poverty, which involves a deepening freedom before what we have, or what has come to be our identity, takes us to a place of trust. Poverty, which is spiritual, helps us to know what we really need. It is the difference between asking, "Help me to have more!" and asking, "Help me to trust in you when I find myself having less."
In that place of dependence upon God, the jar doesn't go empty, and the jug never runs dry. Then, instead of asking God to take away my troubles, to punish my enemies, I'm asking God to help me to be a healer, to help me be generous because I'm noticing those who are in greater need than I am. It is sometimes said that it is common for us who have plenty, to give from our surplus. It is also said that those of us who are poor often give, even from what we need. When our wants become far less than our income, we become rich not by acquiring more money, but progressively reducing our wants. This way of living also opens us to view the means that we have as belonging to others as well, rather than using everything just focused on self.
With these readings today, we could each ask for the grace to be able to give more - from deeper inside of us. We can ask, who needs this kind of generosity from me. Who in my family needs what I had previously felt is more than I could give? Who in the world needs my charity, beyond what I have left over after I take care of my needs first? Those among us who are not poor receive the challenge to be poor in spirit. We pray for freedom of spirit “... so that we may more willingly give our lives in service to all.”
How can we imagine being this generous, this free? We can only get closer to that place by asking for these graces boldly, by letting God love us into freedom, by letting our Lord convince us that our real happiness will be in letting go of more and more and falling into the hands of a loving God - who keeps faith forever and who sets captives free. [Psalm 146]
With God’s blessings,
Fr Tom Kunnel C.O.