Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B 1 Kings 17:10-16/Psalm 146/Hebrews 9:24-28/ Mark 12:38-44 Theme: Religion that is pure

In two weeks time, the Church will celebrate the Feast of Christ the King marking the end of the Liturgical Year. Already, Holy Mother, the Church, reminds us of what is demanded of us in order for us to joyously embrace the kingship of Christ. The Church’s liturgy today, presents us with two poor widows. In the First Reading, we see an example of charity and detachment in the kind woman who gives Elijah the last of her food. She is recompensed with a miracle. The humble generosity of the second widow, unawares, receives praise without equal from Christ. Their poverty of heart and generous services are all the more moving contrasted by the pompous and self-serving example of other, far poorer souls:“the Scribes who eat up the households of widows” and seek the first places in synagogues. In the first reading of today, we encounter the story of the widow of Zarephath, an example of total self-giving so that Elijah might live. The Prophet Elijah not only demanded for a drink but the only livelihood of the widow and her son when he says, " Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me and afterwards make something for yourself and your son ( 1Kings 17:13). It is worthy of note that Elijah not only made the demand of food but assured the widow of God's providence by telling her that "For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: the jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth (1 Kings 17: 14). Faith in the words of the Prophet sends the widow off to give her all. Remember that she was a pagan and yet she believed the words of the Prophet. Therefore, in her total self-giving a miracle happens; she gets in return something that will sustain her a life time. It is this poverty of Spirit that Jesus presents to us in the gospel reading of today. Jesus begins his story by reminding us that true religion does not consists in outward show of piety like wearing beautiful clothes and wanting always to sit at places of honor at banquets. Neither is true religion being praised by people nor people bowing to us for what we have or own. True religion consists in this " ...to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world" (James 1:27). The point of the gospel reading is that not only do the Scribes always try to appear pious and occupy places of honor at banquets, they appear rich and gorgeous because " They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers" ( Mark 12: 40). In other words, Jesus is saying that they have become rich because they keep exploiting the widows at their advantage. If you know that the Jewish was patriarchal or male dominated in nature, you will appreciate the untold hardships women go through when they lose their husbands. What truly makes us Christians? Is it our dressing; our status in society; our exploitation of the poor, susceptible and vulnerable? Jesus demonstrates to us that he is closed to the broken hearted in order to rescue them from the snares of the fowler. Like he watches those who put money in the treasury and realizes that the rich gave out of their abundance, Jesus' attention goes to the poor widow who gave out of her scarce resources. In fact, she gave her all. There is always the temptation to please people around us and in order to maintain the status quo, we do not care about how we acquire our wealth these days. Jesus invites us to please him rather than men because he is our ticket to heaven. What will make us practice true religion? This is the question the second reading seeks to answer. Jesus' death on the Cross is the only sacrifice acceptable to God his Father. Indeed, our prayers and thanksgiving add nothing to God's greatness but only makes us to grow in holiness. Jesus demonstrates on the cross that true religion consists in dying for others; sacrificing our comfort so that others can find joy and peace. It is appointed for mortals to die once and after that judgment. May the fear of the Lord work in us in such a way that it frees us from the bondage of sin by extinguishing in us the disordered desire for created things, which is the principal cause of sin. In urging us to detachment from things, it also impels us to rid ourselves of selfish desires, vain thoughts and even our worries. In our fear of the Lord, we learn to scorn worldly honors and praise. We learn to order our appreciation for human affection and see it as something which should only lead us to God. With fear of the Lord we learn to despise comfort and possessions, not because they are evil, but because God is much better and we possess him to the extent to which we dispossess ourselves of created things. Our separation from God begins when these things become ends in themselves. The Holy Spirit only spurs us on to holiness, never to mediocrity. Therefore, he urges us to material poverty: to be content with little, always curbing our desires. Further, he urges us on to poverty of spirit which means freedom from even that which we possess, without which, the former is worthless. John of the Cross says, “The lack of things implies no detachment on the part of the soul if it retains a desire for them, that is, if it is still attached to them … The things of this world neither occupy the soul nor cause it harm, since they do not enter it, but rather the will and the desire for them, for it is these that dwell within” (Ascent of Mount Carmel, I, 3, 4). The prudent man who builds his spiritual life on the solid rock of Christ has no attachments even to moral and spiritual goods such as interior consolations. Consolations are not God, for God is not a feeling. His activity in the soul might occasion consolation but we should be honest with him and ourselves remembering that his consolations are not to be confused with him. Therefore, we should be detached even from those good things he allows us. Just as we should not seek our happiness in human love alone, nor should we seek from God anything outside of him. Poverty of spirit consists of being stripped and empty of all pretensions so that we are not encumbered on our path to God. Contrary to human prudence, here lies our happiness. In sum, the beatitude promised to all who are brave enough, or better said, humble enough, to take to the road of poverty of spirit ends in full possession of God, even in this life. God has destined us for him in heaven, but we should not see it as part II of an existence begun on earth. The Holy Spirit desires to lead us to full possession of God here and now. According to the degree of our docility to his interior movements we will possess him and be possessed by him and to that degree, enjoy the beatitude promised to the poor in spirit