Homily
for November 12, 2006
Liturgical Year B - Cycle II
32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. John Carney Topic:
Let us be Thanks Givers.
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Reading
I 1 Kgs
17:10-16 In
those days, Elijah the prophet went to Zarephath.As
he arrived at the entrance of the city, a
widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her, "Please bring
me a
small cupful of water to drink."She left to get it, and he called out after her, "Please bring
along a bit of bread." She
answered, "As the LORD, your God, lives, I have nothing baked; there is
only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug.Just now I was collecting a couple of sticks,
to go in and prepare something for myself and my son; when we have
eaten it, we
shall die."Elijah said to her,
"Do not be afraid.Go and do as you
propose. But first make me a little cake
and bring it to me. Then you can prepare
something for yourself and your son.For
the LORD, the God of Israel, says, 'The jar of flour shall not go
empty, nor
the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the
earth.'"
She left and did as Elijah had said.She was able to eat for a year, and he and
her son as well; the jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil
run dry,
as the LORD had foretold through Elijah.
Gospel
Mk 12:41-44 Jesus
sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money
into
the treasury.Many rich people put in
large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a
few
cents.Calling his disciples to himself,
he said to them, "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than
all
the other contributors to the treasury.For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but
she, from
her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood."
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What a beautiful
morning.I usually come over on Sunday
about 6:30 or 7:00 a.m.to
turn on the
heat so you can be comfy.I read a
report that people give more money when they’re comfortable.Anyway, I’d opened the gate of the rectory
yard,
there were seven deer, two bucks, and they had very small racks, and
five
doe.I assume they were doe.I went right up to them.They were
from me to Kevin (indicating the
first row) and they just looked at me.I
went like this and one of them stomped his leg and I stomped my leg.I guess they thought I was St. Francis.Could be, you know?It
is uncanny, though, that they were not
afraid.I don’t know what that was all
about.I must be glowing! Two years before
the Declaration of Independence was signed,
a woman was born in New York City by the name
of Elizabeth Bayley.She was born into a
wealthy and privileged family and her life started out just great.She fell in love, even as a teenager, to the
man that she would marry.By the age of
twenty,
she married William Seton. They had a
beautiful home and the whole world was in front of them.They had five children rather quickly, I
think in about five years.William Seton
was a successful businessman.He had
businesses in the United States and in Europe and things
were going well.He contracted
tuberculosis and they decided to move to Italy so that he
could live in a better climate, as well as attend to his business.Things got worse.Indeed,
the business failed.He had to declare
bankruptcy and then he
died.Elizabeth with her
five young children was stranded in Italy.An
Italian family, whom she came to love very
much, befriended her.They cared for her
and her family and they were able to provide passage so she could
return to the
United States with her
five kids. Elizabeth decided
to convert to Catholicism because of
the example of that Italian family and their love of the Catholic
faith,.In doing so, she alienated her
family who would
no longer support her.One of the
reasons she wanted to become Catholic is because her mother died at a
young age
and she needed a mom and the Catholic faith comes with Mary.Therefore, she did her best.She took a job teaching school, not making
much money but just enough to get by.When her five children were grown, she told a friend, “I’d like
to
retire from the turmoil of the world and lead a life of prayer, a
simple
life.But God wants me to do something
else and I must always choose God’s will over my own.”What she thought that God wanted her to do
and indeed what God wanted her to do, was to be the foundress of the
American
Order of the Sisters of Charity.The
Sisters of Charity followed the rules that St. Vincent de
Paul had founded many years before in France but had no
foundation in the U.S.She
received the permission of the Archbishop
Cardinal of Baltimore and began
The Sisters of Charity.She began
through her efforts the Parochial, CatholicParochial School System in the U.S. that many
of us have benefited from.Anybody?Many have of course. Interestingly
too, that Parochial School System not
only benefited you and me and our Church, but the United States;
because in
addition to the three “R’s” a lot of people learned about ethics and
the right
way of living.Of course, I’m talking
about Elizabeth Ann Seton.She was
canonized in 1975 as the first American born saint and she gave her
life, all
of her life to serve God and his people. I mention her
because she was a single mother, had
lost her husband and was a widow, like the two widows in the scriptures
today.She gave not of her excess or of
her surplus
but of her very substance to serve God and his people. Let me give you just a
little background about the
first widow we encounter in Elijah.Of
course
Elijah is fleeing from King Ahab and Jezebel.Ahab has taken Jezebel, a foreigner as his wife, she had
introduced the
worship of false Gods into Israel, and of course, Elijah, the great
prophet
condemned her for that. Indeed, he fought the prophets of Baal and
defeated
them.He was on the run because Jezebel
wanted his head.He encounters this
widow in the time of drought, the drought that God had sent to punish Israel.He
encounters the widow who was about to die
herself and says, “Give me a little something to eat.”She gives of her very substance to him.Of
course, we know that the jar did not go
empty or the jug run dry for the next year for her and her son. The other widow
gave her two mites, her coins.Some years
ago, a parishioner gave me the
widow’s mite, a tiny little coin.It
looks like a pebble almost and of course, it is worn down by age. This coin is believed to be the coin that this
widow donated to the purse.Jesus
proclaims her as great.He says, “She
gave more than all the others because she gave of her very substance,
of her
very life not of her excess or of her surplus.” Clearly, the
lesson today is asking us to look at how
we give.What kind of giver are
you?What kind of giver am I?Father Mark Link, a Jesuit priest categorizes
three kinds of givers.The first are the
grudge givers and I haven’t encountered those people.He claims grudge givers give because they
hate to give but they need to, to avoid embarrassment or something. The second kind
of giver he describes, I think we’re
aware of, and that’s the duty giver, the person who says, “I ought to
give.”Or “I have an obligation to
give.”I think that probably describes
quite a few of us.Mark Link, I think
correctly says that that’s not the right reason to give, not because
you should
and not because you have an obligation. The right reason
to give is to be a “thanks giver” as
he calls them.These are people who give
because they want to give.They consider
it a privilege to give.There is no
obligation.There is no pressure.It is just something that makes them feel
good, makes them happy and fulfills their innermost self. Thanksgiving is
in twelve days, hard to believe.Those
weren’t seven turkeys out there by the
rectory this morning or they’d be in trouble.It is a good time I think for us to prepare for Thanksgiving.We prepare correctly in Advent for Christmas,
in Lent for Easter.You know,
Thanksgiving, although a secular holiday, is really a religious holiday
as well
and it’s a time that we give thanks to God and think about our own
giving
habits.I would challenge all of us to
ask the question, “What kind of giver are you?”Do you love to give?Do you
consider it a privilege to give?One
thing’s for sure is that we will never out-give God.We will never outdo Him in His
generosity.Our jar will not go empty or
our jugs go dry.Give to others and God
will give to you.Indeed, you will
receive a full measure, a generous helping poured into your hand, all
that you
can hold.The measure you use for others
is the measure God will use for you. You know all
repentant sinners can go to heaven.First,
we need to repent.We know that there are
many saints who were
lustful, who were even murderers, and hateful who repented. However, I don’t
think there’s anybody in heaven who’s
cheap; no cheap people in heaven.This
is important; this question of generosity is at the very heart of what
it means
to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.So
please, if you would bow your heads and we’ll pray.
Heavenly
Father, give us
hearts filled with charity.We ask you
for life and you give us abundant life. We
ask you for a place to live and you bless
us with this land of enchantment.We ask
you for water and you bless us with rain and snow.We ask you for something to eat and you feed
us with the body and blood of your son.Loving God, give us the heart of Jesus your son who gave from
his
substance for us.Help us to be generous
to others.May we never give grudgingly
or even out of a sense of obligation, rather may we be “thanks givers”
giving
from our very selves.Father, help us to
live a life of charity.
May the prayer of St.
Ignatius of Loyola be our prayer:
Dearest
Lord, teach us to
be generous.
Teach us to serve you as
you deserve; to give and not to count the cost.To fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for
rest to
labor and not ask for any reward except that of knowing that I am doing
your
will.Through Christ our Lord, Amen.