Texts taken from the Missal “On Your Word” November-December

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
4th week of the Psalter

FIRST READING

From the First Book of Kings (1 Kings 17:10-16)
In those days, the prophet Elijah arose and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the gate of the city, there was a widow gathering sticks. He called her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Please bring me also a piece of bread.” She replied, “As the Lord, your God, lives, I have nothing baked, but only a handful of flour in the jar and a little oil in the jug; now I am gathering a couple of sticks, after which I will go prepare something for myself and my son: we will eat it and then die.” Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said. But first make me a small cake and bring it to me; then you can prepare something for yourself and your son, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘The jar of flour shall not become empty and the jug of oil shall not run dry until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the face of the earth.’” She went and did as Elijah had said; then she, he, and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour did not become empty, and the jug of oil did not run dry, according to the word that the Lord had spoken through Elijah. - The word of the Lord.

Commentary on the first reading

Obedience works miracles. Today’s first reading is entirely interwoven with acts of obedience: Elijah’s, who, accepting the Lord’s unexpected command, returns to the territory from which he had been fleeing because of King Ahab, with whom he was in conflict; and that of the widow of Zarephath, who is mysteriously entrusted by the Lord with caring for the prophet. Elijah makes himself available to the Lord, who asks him to take a demanding step, and the widow of Zarephath, in turn, responds to the prophet’s invitation after an initial hesitation. Do not be afraid! This is the first thing to do; this is what the prophet asks of the widow, but also what the Lord asks of us. How often this invitation echoes throughout Sacred Scripture: there is one for every day of the year. Do not be afraid is the condition for being able to see beyond, precisely where it seems to us that there can be no future. The prophet relies on the Lord’s promise: “The jar of flour shall not become empty…” God does not lie. Living by trusting in God’s promises means giving up relying on our pitiful handful of remaining flour and little oil, so that we may make ourselves available to the Lord’s work.

SECOND READING

From the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 9:24-28)
Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a figure of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear before God on our behalf. Nor does he have to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the sanctuary every year with the blood of another; in that case, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. Instead, now, once for all, at the end of the ages, he has appeared to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for human beings to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not in relation to sin but for the salvation of those who eagerly await him. - The word of the Lord.

Commentary on the second reading

The passage from the Letter to the Hebrews presents us with the eternal value of Christ’s sacrifice. Human sin, which had no way out, is “abolished” through Christ’s blood. Christ’s death was not simply a death like all others, but a voluntary death transformed into a sacrifice and, precisely for this reason, capable of eliminating sin. Once and for all, he made “the sacrifice of himself” through the offering of his body. Every tabernacle in which Jesus is present in the sacrament of his Body given and his Blood poured out is an image of the heavenly tabernacle to which he ascended and in which he offers himself to the Father in an eternal oblation. He is not only a victim pleasing to God, but also the true high priest capable of offering the victim, because the fire of divine charity burns in his heart. Christ Jesus not only saved us, but continues to save us. We live in this today of salvation. Christ will return again, but this return must not be understood as a return to mortal life, but as a return in glory to grant full and definitive salvation to all who await him.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Mark (Mk 12:38-44)
At that time, Jesus [in the temple] said to the crowd in his teaching: “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, to receive greetings in the marketplaces, to have the first seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and recite long prayers for appearance’s sake. They will receive a severe condemnation.” Sitting opposite the treasury, he watched how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two small coins, worth a penny. Then, calling his disciples to himself, he said to them: “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. For they have all contributed from their surplus. But she, in her poverty, has put in everything she had, everything she had to live on.” - The word of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

How little noise the widow’s two small coins must have made when she put them into the temple treasury! No one had noticed her, and no one had heard the faint tinkling of the two coins, but the Lord’s eye is very attentive and sees that in those two small coins the widow gives her whole life, while the others give from their surplus. Surplus is what spills out of the glass, as if to say: I keep the glass full with its contents; you be content with what overflows. What is my relationship with God? What am I putting at stake? My life, or only my surplus? And with my neighbor? Very often our relationships are wounded precisely because we do not “put our lives at stake,” but only our surplus. In the widow’s offering, all that woman’s love for God and her brothers and sisters is expressed: she offered “everything she had to live on”; nothing more could be added to it. Following Christ’s example, who gave his entire self, the Church, born from the Eucharist, is called to live out the continuation of this gift. “On the scales of divine justice, the quantity of gifts is not weighed, but rather the weight of hearts” (Saint Leo the Great). Nothing done out of love is insignificant, and no act of mercy remains without fruit.