A Question of Context
the widow's mite
Announcements for November 6, 2021:
The Annual Gala celebrating our parish's educational ministry will be held tonight. Please pray for the success of the event!
The diocesan Gold and Silver Wedding Anniversary Celebration is at the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist this Sunday. Congratulations to all celebrating these wonderful milestones, especially John and Cathy Robben, Ron and Martha Underwood, and Joe and Lorraine Zagula.
Our next youth ministry gathering will be held Friday, November 12th at 7:00pm. This time we'll gather in the school gym. All teens in grades 8 through 12 are invited to attend.
The Diocesan Ministries Appeal is in full swing. Check out Bishop Sweeney's appeal video, and click here to give today.
Visit our Parishioner Portal for up-to-date announcements.
Dear Saints,
In this weekend's Gospel, we hear about the Widow's Mite. Observing how the crowd put money into the temple treasury, Jesus remarks:
Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury... her whole livelihood.
This excerpt is often used as an exhortation to sacrificial financial giving. Although we don't know much about the widow's disposition from Jesus' comments, we can read deep commitment into her offering: She's giving over to God everything she has!
But there's more to the story than meets the eye. To give it a better look, we have to include Mark 12:38-40 and 13:1-2 in our reading. See the quote in its immediate context here.
Taking the three brief scenes together, we see why the temple authorities draw some of Jesus' most stinging rebukes. The poor widow, who has little to live on because of the ruling regime's corruption, is further victimized by the establishment that compels her support. It's truly horrific.
The main thrust of the passage, then, pushes us to consider God's judgment. Jesus burns for justice, for a more God-centered and humane ordering of the world's affairs, and so he passionately opposes the exploitation of the weak and vulnerable.
Jesus' words of condemnation mean that nothing opposed to God's good rule - no regime, no institution - can ultimately stand. Indeed, there are times that the edifices of idolatry and injustice must immediately be torn down, stone by stone.
This shouldn't surprise us. As people who pray that God's kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are committed to advancing God's rule of holiness and justice to every corner of creation. If that seems a bit beyond us, consider that we play our part by worship and mission. So pray. And love.
I love you, my friends, and I look forward to seeing you soon.
Christ's Peace,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
The Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Widow's Mite
James Tissot, Late 19th Century