November 7th 2021. Thirty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Mark 12,38-44

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

 

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

 

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GOSPEL: Mark 12,38-44

In the course of his teaching Jesus said to the crowds,
"Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes
and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honour in synagogues,
and places of honour at banquets.
They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext recite lengthy prayers.
They will receive a very severe condemnation."
He 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."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. If God is not our Saviour, then we will seek to be filled by something else, causing us to “devour” what is around us.

This account of the widow’s contribution to the Temple treasury is the final story recounted in Mark’s Gospel at the end of public life of Jesus. Following this, Jesus gives his discourse on the destruction of the Temple, and then the Passion narrative begins. The passage presents us with two contrasting figures, one who uses God to promote himself, the other who gives of herself in order to submit to God. The Scribe goes around in flowing robes, looking for attention. He uses religion to advance his own agenda, his own public image. Jesus had just commented that people of this sort “devour” the houses of widows. This expression – to devour – is significant. It shows the desperate anxiety to fill the void within. Our ego gets its energy from the fear of nothingness. We have nothing without God, and this nothingness fills us with terror, causing us to devour everything around us. When our Saviour is not Christ, there are many others, and they are vain.

 

2. The Gospel cannot be reduced to mediocrity. We either rely on God as our Saviour or we try to live by our own works and the esteem of others.

The Scribes live by vanity, to be seen by others. But what does Jesus see? He see the widow, who in contrast to the Scribe, puts her last two coins into the Temple treasury. By so doing, she manifests her radical relationship with God. She could have held one coin back for her own needs, but instead she gives both. There are no half measures here. She empties herself in order to live out her relationship with God, whilst the Scribe uses his relationship with God to try to fill himself. Either our heart rests in God depending on his providence, or we live by our own works and the esteem of others. Today, let us move the centre from ourselves to God. We are called to enter into a true relationship with Christ. What do we really love? The Gospel is radical. It cannot be reduced to mediocrity. Either it is the centre or it is nothing.