She was able to eat for a year, and he and her son as well; the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, as the LORD had foretold through Elijah.
Today's first and third readings from the First Book of Kings and the Gospel of Saint Mark invite us to trust in the Lord as we're asked to give more money, time, talent, and space to others.
The people of God understand, "There is plenty more where that came from!" And they act with that confidence because they know that everything they have and are is a gift from God.
Which flies in the face of so much that we have been told, and much of which we believe. The American's ideal man is a rugged individual and Darwinian survivor. He aspires to more power, influence, wealth, freedom, and territory. He wins; he is no loser. In a world of limited resources he garners more than enough; he can graciously bestow some of his excess on others, if he so chooses. If he must cheat to get ahead, he hires like-minded lawyers to help him avoid the penalties of the law.
This successful individual neither understands nor cares for the widow who shares her last meal with a wandering holy man; he despises the old woman who gives her last pennies to the Church. He is flummoxed by Jesus's admiring these women, and outraged that the Lord does not admire him. He supports those churches which believe as he does that the world and all its peoples must be subdued and dominated.
Today we're seeing the cost such attitudes extract from the earth and its wealth. We know there is superabundance of food for every living creature, and yet the earth and its peoples are starving. After a hundred thousand years of technological progress the planet is suffering, the climate is rebelling, and human life is threatened. Tropical regions are becoming uninhabitable due to excessive heat, just as the poles have been uninhabitable due to the cold. We're watching already as millions of people flow like water to the temperate zones, washing over every wall, boundary, and law that might be erected against them.
If the Gospel has seemed like a take-it-or-leave-it option for those who want to live that way, it must soon become a life-or-death choice for everyone. Despite its moral ambiguity, today's polarization warns us of the judgement to come. Climate change will make the Covid pandemic look like the good old days. As the antagonism becomes fiercer and the differences irreconcilable, the Gospel will invite us to surrender our few copper coins and our last measures of flour. "...when we have eaten it, we shall die."
There is more suffering where that came from for those who choose to ignore the obvious. There is abundance for those who give sacrificially and believe in God.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.