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Contemplating today's Gospel

Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
View 1st Reading and Psalm
1st Reading (1Kgs 17:10-16): In those days, Elijah the prophet went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the entrance of the city, a widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her, «Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink». She left to get it, and he called out after her, «Please bring along a bit of bread». She answered, «As the Lord, your God, lives, I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug. Just now I was collecting a couple of sticks, to go in and prepare something for myself and my son; when we have eaten it, we shall die».

Elijah said to her, «Do not be afraid. Go and do as you propose. But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son. For the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth’». She left and did as Elijah had said. 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.
Responsorial Psalm: 145
R/. Praise the Lord, my soul!
The Lord keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets captives free.

The Lord gives sight to the blind. The Lord raises up those who were bowed down; the Lord loves the just. The Lord protects strangers.

The fatherless and the widow he sustains, but the way of the wicked he thwarts. The Lord shall reign forever; your God, o Zion, through all generations.
2nd Reading (Heb 9:24-28): Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf. Not that he might offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary with blood that is not his own; if that were so, he would have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world. But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by his sacrifice. Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment, so also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.
Versicle before the Gospel (Mt 5:3): Alleluia. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Alleluia.
Gospel text (Mk 12:38-44): In the course of his teaching Jesus said to the crowds, "Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation."

He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood."

“For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she has contributed all she had”

Fr. José MARTÍNEZ Colín (Culiacán, Mexico)

Today, the Gospel presents Christ to us as Teacher and speaks to us of the detachment that we must live. A detachment, first of all, from our own honor or recognition, which we sometimes seek: “Beware of… accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets” (cf. Mk 12:38-39). In this sense, Jesus warns us of the bad example of the scribes.

Secondly, detachment from material things. Jesus praises the poor widow, while lamenting the falsehood of others: “For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she (the widow), from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood” (Mk 12:44).

Whoever does not live the detachment of temporal goods lives full of one's self, and cannot love. In such a state of soul there is no “room” for others: no compassion, no mercy, no care for one’s neighbor.

The saints set an example. Here is a fact from the life of St. Pius X when he was still bishop of Mantua. A merchant wrote slanderous accounts against the bishop. Many of his friends advised him to sue the slanderer, but the future Pope replied: “That poor man has more need of prayers than of punishment.” He did not accuse him, and instead prayed for him.

But it did not end there. After a while, the merchant's business went badly, and he declared bankruptcy. All the creditors descended on him, and he was left with nothing. Only one person came to his aid: it was the bishop of Mantua himself who, anonymously, sent an envelope with money to the merchant, letting him know that the money came from the most Merciful Lady, that is, from Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Do I genuinely live in detachment from earthly realities? Is my heart empty of things? Can my heart see the needs of others? “The Christian's program —the program of Jesus—is “a heart which sees”” (Benedict XVI).

Thoughts on Today's Gospel

  • “A charitable house will never be poor” (Saint John Vianney)

  • “The Lord calls us to a Gospel lifestyle marked by sobriety, by a refusal to yield to the culture of consumerism. This means being concerned with the essentials and learning to do without all those unneeded extras which hem us in” (Francis)

  • “All Christ's faithful are to "direct their affections rightly, lest they be hindered in their pursuit of perfect charity by the use of worldly things and by an adherence to riches which is contrary to the spirit of evangelical poverty.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2545)

December 26th
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