NOVEMBER 11^th. THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Mark 12:38-44

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

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The Gospel presents us with two types of person: the Scribe who lives for the admiration of others; and the widow who has no public image to uphold, and lives by giving all she has to the Lord. Don Fabio tells us that we are all similar to the Scribe in that we base the meaning of our lives on the esteem of others, on shallow appearances instead of on who we really are. We “marry” ourselves to the world, sacrificing the things that genuinely matter on the altar of our image in eyes of others. But this futile commitment to the idols of this world will leave us “widowed”, because such things are of no value in the long run. We must strive to take on the attitude of the widow, who realizes full well that the things of this world leave us alone, empty and disinherited. All of us, at the end of the day, are as impoverished and miserable as this widow, but she alone is aware of that fact. She gives both of her coins to the Lord, not giving just one and holding the other back for herself. If we wish to have an authentic relationship with the Lord, then we must do likewise, offering ourselves completely, not half-heartedly giving a little and retaining an attachment to worldly sources of security.

The Gospel compares two types of person: one who lives for vanity, and one who lives by giving. Which one are you?

The Gospel passage for this Sunday comes at the end of the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of Mark. The thirteenth Chapter contains Jesus’ final discourse before the Passion, a discourse that focuses on the end times and the destruction of the Temple. So the Gospel this Sunday represents one of the final things that Jesus has to say in the Gospel of Mark, and it is intended to relate something of the highest importance. The passage presents us with two different types of person. On the one hand are the Scribes, who like to parade themselves publicly and take the places of honour in the Synagogue and at banquets. On the other hand, we have the image of a poor widow who throws all she has into the temple treasury. What is the contrast between these two types of person? Each one has their own priority in life, and this priority is manifested through their actions. The Scribe loves to dress in a certain way in order to show who he is, and this leads to him being greeted in the market-place and given the seats of honour in the synagogue and at banquets. The Scribe’s priority is to be seen and be admired by others. He lacks a solid foundation for his identity, and bases his own worth on vanity. He lives to be admired. If others fail to notice him or esteem him, then he feels that he is nothing. The day that his role and his public standing are taken away from him, he becomes worthless in his own eyes.

The Scribe is not a distant figure. He is each one of us.

What is our priority in life? Do we believe that this Scribe is a distant figure from us, and that we live according to different principles altogether? If we look closely at ourselves, we will see the Scribe in each one of us! Who among us does not love to be the centre of attention, to be given honour and praise by others? The fact is that we all yearn to be admired and recognized. We despise it when we are overlooked or neglected. But a life that is lived with the priority of being appreciated and recognized is a life of a very inferior sort. Such an approach to life sacrifices things that are genuinely valuable on the altar of public image. In our society today, we see the attitude of the Scribe in the general yearning for superficial beauty. People are unhappy with the way they look. They feel unacceptable to some extent in the eyes of others. Modern life is lived at the level of appearances. It has ceased to matter what we really are; what matters is how we appear. Life lived thus is full of self-deception and illusory ideals. We must regain possession of our lives and give it to the only One who knows how to restore it to us redeemed.

We are all the widow insofar as each of us only has two coins to offer to the Lord

At this point, another image is presented to us by the Gospel. This woman stands at the lowest level of human society because, not only is she a widow, she is also poor. The laws of the time ensured that only men could inherit, which meant that any widow who did not have resources of her own was forced to become a beggar. This lady has descended to the bottom rung of the social ladder, and being in such a state, she has become aware of what really matters in life. She has just two coins left. What is she to do with these two coins? If all of us look inside ourselves, we will find that we each have only two coins. Beneath the mask that we present to the public, what we have inside is indeed miserable. As soon as our health is affected, we find out very quickly the limits of our own strength and independence. But we continue to base our security, our notions of self-worth, on the illusory “goods” of this world. We think that with a healthy bank account and the positive esteem of others, we have a secure and meaningful life. But what do we have really? These “goods” can be lost in an instant. The fact is that each of us has only two coins and we are all widows in this sense, but we don’t realize it. This world has married us and abandoned us. We are all widows of the idols that we have committed ourselves to, and that have given us nothing. We have invested ourselves in projects, schemes, false images of ourselves, but all these come to nothing. In the end we are left with the two coins that make up what we really have inside of ourselves. Let us give these two coins to the Lord!

Why does the widow have an authentic relationship with God? Because she gives both coins, and does not keep one for herself.

This lady, in giving away all that she has, has found that which alone has value, the one inheritance that cannot be taken from her – an authentic relationship with God. When does one have a genuine relationship with God? When one invests oneself completely in that relationship. When, having just two coins, one does not give only one to the lord and keep the other for oneself. If one has only two coins, it seems logical to give just one away and keep the other. But the widow gives both to the Lord. Even if the “coins” we have seem worthless, the issue is not the quantity of that which we give, but the quality. The widow in her offering gives everything. Oh that in this week we might take the opportunity of investing ourselves completely in the Lord! He who has lived this “death to oneself” that come with entrusting oneself to God, lives the great life of the security of the love of God. When we give the little that we have, we come into the possession of incredible riches. That the Lord might grant each one of us at least one opportunity this week for shifting our centre of gravity a little away from ourselves and towards him!

This week, let us seek the small daily occasions to give our lives completely to the Lord

What stops us from giving ourselves completely to the Lord? What do we fear losing? So many people are frantically attached to the lives that they are currently leading, but what is there in these lives that is worthy of such attachment? It is only in God that life becomes truly beautiful. We can cling on to the things of this world, cling on tenaciously, but in the end we will lose them; that much is guaranteed. It is only in God that our lives find fulfilment. We were made to be completed by God and to find ourselves in the wonderful, beautiful, plan that he has for each of us. It is in the giving of ourselves that we finally come to the possession of ourselves. That the Lord might give us the occasion this week to give our lives over to him, holding nothing back for ourselves.