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 32^nd Sunday, Year B: Homily by Fr. Isaac Chima

Theme: Don’t be scared of giving your all to God and humanity

Readings: 1 Kings 17:10-16; Heb. 9:24-28; Mk 12:38-44

Dear friends in Christ, the readings of this Sunday highlight generosity, trust in God, and self-sacrifice or self-giving, and they encourage us to always prioritize these virtues in our relationships with God and man.

Today’s first reading has a beautiful illustration of generosity and trust in God. There was famine in the land, and the widow of Zarephath and her son had just one meal left in their house, after which they would wait for death. But when the prophet Elijah came to her and asked her to share that her last meal with him, giving her divine assurance that her nearly spent supply of bread and oil would never run out, she generously shared her meal with the prophet, trusting in God’s providence. The reading concluded by telling us that God fulfilled His words from the mouth of His prophet, and the widow and her son never ran out of food until the famine was over.

The widow clearly had no idea that God sent prophet Elijah to her to save her and her family from death. So, if she had not been generous to prophet Elijah, she would have lost the opportunity to save herself and her son from death. It was her generosity and absolute trust in God’s word from the mouth of the prophet that brought God’s blessing upon her and her son.

Dear friends, we have no idea how many blessings, favours, and opportunities we miss anytime we close our arms to those who come to us for help. If we really recognize the face of God in every person, we will never miss any opportunity to share our meal with anyone who asks for it. The Bible is filled with stories of people who received blessings they had waited for many years simply by serving complete strangers who turned out to be angels.

Thus, the first reading urges us never to turn our backs on those who knock on our doors for help, even if what they ask for is the last of what we have. Like the widow of Zarephath, we should put our trust in God, believing that the God whose face we see in the poor and the helpless, the God who said, “blessed is the hand that gives,” will never allow our hands of charity to run dry. We will never lack if we put our trust in God and share what we have with the needy.

Today’s gospel presented another story of true generosity. It tells us that true generosity is not about giving away what we don’t need but about giving our all to God and man; our presence must be felt in what we give as an offering to God and as alms to the needy. We saw the imprint of the widow in the two copper coins that she offered. She gave her all, everything that she had to live on, just like the widow of Zarephath did; she poured out her life to God. On the other hand, the other people gave from the abundance of their wealth; let us say they gave out what they didn’t need. This widow challenges us to allow our presence to be felt in what we offer to God and to humanity. This would entail giving out not only what we don’t need, but also what we seriously need.

The second reading showed us that Christ’s death on the Cross is the perfect example of self-giving to God and man. By pouring out His entire self on the cross, Christ liberated us once and for all from the devil and saved us from sin. He has left for us an example on how to give to God and man.

These days, pride is one of the enemies of generosity. Like the scribes that were criticized by Christ for their pride and hypocrisy in today’s gospel, many people simply give to others out of pride and desire to receive compliments. That is why it is difficult for such people to help the needy where there are no cameras to capture them and post them on social media and on the pages of the newspaper. Jesus invites us to shun pride and the craving for compliments when we give to the needy and when we perform other actions for God and humanity.

May God bless your hands as you lift them to help the needy today.

Have a blessed Sunday.

Fr. Isaac Chima