Over the past few Sundays we have heard from Saint Paul in his Letter to the Hebrews reminding us that in Jesus Christ we have a great “High Priest” whose perfect sacrifice enables us to approach our Father God and share in His divine life.  In today’s scripture we hear how our own sacrifice and selflessness allows us to live our lives in a way that reflects our faith and trust in our great High Priest.

In both today’s Old Testament reading (1 Kings 17:10-16) and Gospel (Mark 12:41-44) we hear of impoverished widows who give to others in need.  These widows give, not from their surplus, but from their poverty.  In both instances there is a great reward for the widows – one is blessed by a miraculous multiplication of her food, the other is praised by Jesus himself for her charity.

It is the same for us – we are called by God to share ourselves, our gifts, and our material goods with anyone in greater need than us.  This is not always an easy thing to come to terms with but it is our call as Christian disciples.  Sometimes we like to believe that since we have worked hard for what we have, we do not need to share it.  Sometimes we feel that we only are responsible for the needs of our immediate family, and that other needy people should be taken care of by their own friends and families, leaving us out of it.  Sometimes we feel that we just don’t have that extra to give even though we continue to spend liberally on ourselves.   And sometimes, even when we acknowledge our surplus wealth, we feel that we need to hold it “in reserve” just in case one day we ourselves fall on hard times.   So it can be hard for some of us to accept the idea that we should share even if we have a surplus.  And it’s even harder for those who have little to no surplus to accept the idea to share with others.

But we need to fight this self-centered tendency, for it is love of, and caring for, our fellow brothers and sisters that is at the heart of Jesus’ gospel message.  And it is by taking on a spirit of selflessness, outreach, and sharing that we respond to Jesus’ message.

And maybe we can look at the two widows in today’s scripture for help.  We might ask what was it about these two penniless widows that allowed them to be so selfless and so generous.  And I believe the answer is that they both had the Spirit of God dwelling in them – a Spirit that emboldened their faith and allowed them to trust God to the point that they could put their own needs second to the needs of others.  It was their conviction that in the end God would provide for them even if they exhausted their own resources on others who were needier than themselves.

For us to be as charitable as those widows takes great faith and trust in God – a faith and trust that can only be achieved if we open ourselves to God and allow his Spirit to permeate our beings. It is only with God’s Spirit working in us that we can adopt a selfless and generous attitude where we actually view our own needs second to the needs of others.    It is only with God’s Spirit working in us that we will share the widows’ conviction that God will provide for us even when we can’t provide for ourselves. 

So we ask God to increase our faith and trust in Him and to bestow on us his Spirit of love and generosity.  We ask God to help us be comfortable in giving to others, and putting our needs behind those of others.   And in the end, just like it was for those widows, there will be great reward in store for us as we respond to Christ’s call to share all of ourselves and all that we have with those in need..