Giving All I Have

32nd Sunday In Ordinary Time
8 November 2009




Come, let us worship Christ, whose bride is the Church.
First reading 1 Kings 17:10-16

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.

Psalm or canticle: Psalm 145:6-10

Second reading Hebrews 9:24-28

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 Mark 12:38-44

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.’

Reflection
By Mayzelle Atienza

“… but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.”

The Ondoy disaster which flooded most of Metro Manila brought out a lot of modern-day heroes and philanthropists! It was a time of great giving and people were saying that Christmas came early for the Philippines because of the heightened spirit of giving! The Gospel for today though, further qualifies what real giving is – giving out of one’s wealth vs. giving everything ‘one has to live on’.

I remember at the height of the flooding with so many millions of pesos pouring in, one particular news item struck me; a well-known sports celebrity gave Php 1Million for the victims of Ondoy. It was big news; after all, 1 Million pesos will go a long way in helping so many people but the story doesn’t end there, at least for me, since several months back that same sports celebrity lost Php1 (or so) Million pesos on a billiard game -- his actual net worth was in millions of dollars! I am not really judging since I am in no position to judge and I struggle with this myself – not in that million-peso magnitude but in my daily decisions on what to give to God, to my family, to my friends and to my community. What is my ‘two small copper coins’? Am I giving out of my excess or out of my poverty? Am I giving all I have to live on or am I giving only what’s convenient?






Loving Father, mold our hearts and our minds that we may find joy in giving, not from our excesses and from what is convenient but allow us to truly give, out of everything we have to live on. Amen.







Next week on God-speak
Prepare Rather Than Fear