Just a word before we go...Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time...November 7. 2021

The Lord hears the cry of the poor, blessed be the Lord…

This weekend we hear the stories of two widows, both poor, both challenged to give without counting the cost. The first, the one who befriended Elijah, was facing certain starvation for herself and her son, yet she responded positively to the request of the prophet for a meal, one which she could ill afford to give. Yet, give she does, resulting in her being able to sustain herself and her son throughout the famine. She somehow understood that she had a responsibility to respond to the needs of another human being, even if it appeared that said response would cost her dearly. In God’s way of turning things upside down, what might have cost her the ultimate sacrifice ended up saving her family.

The situation the second widow of the day finds herself in is more complicated. In her obedience of the laws of the temple, she gives all that she has to the temple treasury, in contrast  to those wealthy who give for show, so that others may see. And see Jesus does, careful observer of human nature that he is. This widow, as the one in the first reading, is one of the invisible ones, the marginalized ones, those who don’t count in the grand scheme of commerce and society. Jesus, the observer, who can see through to the heart of persons, is able to discern the motives and pretenses of the rich and the poor, and recognizes who is who they say they are, and who practices what they preach.

One of the lessons for us from these readings is that of being vulnerable, of not being afraid to be, really be, who we say we are. It is a matter of integrity, of not being slaves to the trappings, appearances and externals of whatever station we might possess in life, and being true to what the gospel calls us to. God does not desire that the vulnerable be made more vulnerable, like our second widow, but that each of us drop our pretenses and have the courage to act and to be who we profess to be - women and men for others, followers of Jesus Christ, practicing what we preach. It is then that we can claim “what you see is what you get.” It is then that we can sing with integrity:

We proclaim your greatness, O God
with praise ever in our mouth;
every face brightened in your light
for you hear the cry of the poor
The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Blessed be the Lord.