A Homily – The Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

First Reading – 1 Kings 17:10-16

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 145(146):7-10

Second Reading – Hebrews 9:24-28

Gospel Acclamation – Revelation 2:10

Alternative Acclamation – Matthew 5:3

The Gospel According to Mark 12:38-44

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 The narrative from the Book of Kings is not a miracle story, it is a metaphor that illustrates the nature of faith, which is to trust in the providence of the divine.

 Share what you have, even when you don’t have enough, even when you are on the brink of ruin and despair…make a feast of what you have and share it with those in need…this is the way.

 Praise God, creator of the universe. Praise God, with words in song. God alone is the author of our salvation, therefore do not trust in princes and kings, in priests and prelates, and princes.

 Know this!

 God is not a king.

 The life of a human being, the life cycle of our planet and that of the sun itself amounts to little more than a flare in the night.; a flash and it is gone…we are born, we breathe and we are gone,

 Remember.

 Happy are those who take up the work of heaven, humbly assisting the divine in works of mercy and the administration of justice:

 Lift up the oppressed,

          Wherever they are

Feed the hungry

Free the prisoner

Teach the ignorant,

          Wherever they are

 Advocate for those who need an advocate, care for those who cannot care for themselves. Find those who are lost in their wickedness, care for them until you bring them home.

 Know this.

 The cult of animal sacrifice is built on a fundamentally flawed understanding of the divine economy, and the relationship between God and humanity.

 God will never ask you to give your life for the way; the world might ask this of you, but God will not. You will not be rewarded with crowns and glories for doing so, the grace that leads to salvation is distributed to everyone, and everyone’s share of the infinite love of God is the same…it is infinite.

 During our sojourn on Earth we navigate countless paradoxes, we come upon them like rapids in the stream, we crash into and are caught in their back current: take joy is the smile of a stranger, the kindness of your beloved, the opening of a flower, the smell of bread in the oven, a drink of cool water, take joy in these things and share them with downtrodden, the disenfranchised and the marginalized…do it, and you will be on the way.

 The Good Pope Francis said he was saddened by the number of priests and prelates who use their offices in the church to enrich themselves; loving money, seemingly more than they love the people who they have been appointed to serve.

 When I think of the priesthood today and the priests strolling around in their long dresses, doing exactly those things that Mark complained about when he criticized the corruption among the scribes; today’s priests are yesterday’s scribes.

 I think of the monies that all the churches spend on their liturgies, their choirs, their incense, their candles; ostensibly to honor the creator, but really I think it is done in the service of vanity, an impiety that seeks to honor only itself, self-congratulatory and prideful of their pageantry.

 The liturgies themselves do little to honor God, or creation, with the creeds and the common prayers serving more to divide one group from another than to bring them together.

 In my church, the Catholic church, even the eucharist (imagined as God’s own self) is used as a weapon against the people by threatening to deprive them of it if they do not toe the line.

 This is contrary to the teaching of Jesus; it dishonors his life and death, to pretend that you can block a person’s access to the divine and obstruct them along the way.

Be mindful.

The real presence of God dwells within all people. The church, if it is to be relevant to more than a few, must empty itself, empty its treasury, and meet God where God is, living in the poor and the sick, alive in the heart of the criminal as well as that of the “good” citizen.

The church must emulate the widow in this Gospel when called to give, it must give all it has.

First Reading – 1 Kings 17:10-16

'Jar of Meal Shall Not be Spent, Jug of Oil Shall Not Be Emptied'

Elijah the Prophet went off to Sidon. And when he reached the city gate, there was a widow gathering sticks; addressing her he said, ‘Please bring me a little water in a vessel for me to drink.’ She was setting off to bring it when he called after her. ‘Please’ he said ‘bring me a scrap of bread in your hand.’ ‘As the Lord your God lives,’ she replied ‘I have no baked bread, but only a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a jug; I am just gathering a stick or two to go and prepare this for myself and my son to eat, and then we shall die.’ But Elijah said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, go and do as you have said; but first make a little scone of it for me and bring it to me, and then make some for yourself and for your son. For thus the Lord speaks, the God of Israel:

“Jar of meal shall not be spent, jug of oil shall not be emptied, before the day when the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.”’

The woman went and did as Elijah told her and they ate the food, she, himself and her son. The jar of meal was not spent nor the jug of oil emptied, just as the Lord had foretold through Elijah.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 145(146):7-10

The Blessedness of Those Who Hope in the Lord

Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.

I will praise my God all my days.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

  I will praise the Lord all my life,

  make music to my God as long as I exist.

Do not trust in princes to save you,

  they are only sons of men.

One day their breath will leave them, they will return to the ground;

  on that day perish all their plans.

Happy the one whose help is the God of Jacob,

  whose hope is in the Lord his God,

who made heaven and earth and all that is in them,

  who keeps faith for ever,

  who gives justice to the oppressed,

  who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord frees prisoners,

  he gives light to the blind,

  he raises the fallen.

The Lord loves the upright, cares for strangers,

  sustains orphans and widows;

  but the wicked he sends astray.

The Lord will reign for all ages,

  your God, O Zion, from generation to generation.

Amen.

Alleluia. Alleluia.

I will praise my God all my days.

 

Second Reading – Hebrews 9:24-28

Christ, Our High Priest, has Done Away with Sin by Sacrificing Himself

It is not as though Christ had entered a man-made sanctuary which was only modelled on the real one; but it was heaven itself, so that he could appear in the actual presence of God on our behalf. And he does not have to offer himself again and again, like the high priest going into the sanctuary year after year with the blood that is not his own, or else he would have had to suffer over and over again since the world began. Instead of that, he has made his appearance once and for all, now at the end of the last age, to do away with sin by sacrificing himself. Since men only die once, and after that comes judgement, so Christ, too, offers himself only once to take the faults of many on himself, and when he appears a second time, it will not be to deal with sin but to reward with salvation those who are waiting for him.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Revelation 2:10

Alleluia, alleluia!

Even if you have to die, says the Lord, keep faithful, and I will give you the crown of life.

Alleluia!

 

Alternative Acclamation – Matthew 5:3

Alleluia, alleluia!

How happy are the poor in spirit:

theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to Mark 12:38-44

This Poor Widow has Put in More Than All

In his teaching Jesus said, ‘Beware of the scribes who like to walk about in long robes, to be greeted obsequiously in the market squares, to take the front seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets; these are the men who swallow the property of widows, while making a show of lengthy prayers. The more severe will be the sentence they receive.’

  He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the treasury, and many of the rich put in a great deal. A poor widow came and put in two small coins, the equivalent of a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘I tell you solemnly, this poor widow has put more in than all who have contributed to the treasury; for they have all put in money they had over, but she from the little she had has put in everything she possessed, all she had to live on.’

 

A Homily – The Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)