Monday of the Thirty-fourth
Week in Ordinary Time
(Daniel 1:1-6.8-20, Luke 21:1-4)
A man with a Ph.D. in biology enjoys talking about the diet
of Chinese peasants. He says that since
they are dirt poor, Chinese peasants can afford little meat and dairy
products. Rather, he explains, they
mainly eat vegetables and receive the protein that their bodies require from
beans and other legumes. The authority is
convinced that this diet is not inferior but significantly superior to richer,
western diets. He believes that the fats
westerners assimilate from eating meat not only threatens their hearts but also
are related to cancer.
The results of the vegetarian experiment related in the
first reading today, then, should not be surprising. Although the chamberlain believes that Daniel
and his companions would be undernourished by the diet, actually they prove to be
healthier than the others because of it.
But, of course, good nutrition is not the prophet’s point in relating
this story. He means to tell us that
when we abide by the Lord’s will, things always work out for the best. We do not need to worry, as Jesus says, about
what we eat and drink or about what clothes we wear when seek first God’s
kingdom.
Jesus reaffirms this lesson in the gospel today. He praises the poor widow for generosity, a
virtue extolled throughout this Luke’s gospel.
Sometimes we think that we might ignore God’s will as expressed by Jesus
in order to secure more of a desired good.
Some people argue, for example, that it would be all right to take the
life of a patient suffering from incurable cancer so that she does not suffer. But such an action would violate the sanctity
of human life, one of the highest principles of God’s law. No, we want to go out of our way to comfort
and console those in agony. When we do
so, both they and we will benefit.
