“...from our poverty, not our power, privilege or excess ...”
There are any number of ways in which our Christian faith challenges human reason.
Love is more powerful than law. Forgiveness achieves more than revenge. Sin of the heart destroys more than sin of action. The one who threatens the soul is to be more greatly feared and resisted than the one who threatens the body. The true hope of fulfillment in life and of life is the way that leads to Cross, and only then to the glory of the Resurrection!
Two poor widows are at center stage with Jesus in the Scriptures for this 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. It is not in spite of their poverty that they come to this importance. It is their humble living of this reality and their faithfulness to God and to God’s servant that makes it so. It is not a statement “I wish I had more for you” that draws them into the light but simply the living of the truth “This is what I have, and what I have is yours.”
To live this Gospel truth fully, there are some individuals who are able to live in single or community poverty, quiet individuals of quiet service in cities or towns, others gathered into communities of prayer and service in religious houses and monasteries.
And there are the rest of us! We don’t aim for worldly poverty, but we are called to spiritual poverty and humility. What I have, for my spouse, for my parents, for the children and grandchildren, is yours, and I will use it on their behalf in a way that is faithful to it being yours. What I have in such great measure can seduce me into thinking that I need You less, but I will remember still that it is your benefit to me in the bigger truer picture, and I will use it accordingly.