Tuesday, June 7, 2022

 Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

(I Kings 17:7-16; Matthew 5:13-16)

A Dominican priest in Pakistan had a large Muslim following.  The people considered him a holy man of God.  They would wait for him after mass outside church.  There he would bless them.  The blessing evidently brought cures and other graces.  The widow of Zarephath looks at Elijah as those Muslims did to that Dominican in Pakistan.

The widow is not a daughter of Israel.  She tells Elijah, “’As the Lord, your God, lives...”  She must recognize the power of God, or she would not invoke an oath in His name.  She also acknowledges the authority of God’s prophet when she obeys his commands.

The woman is saved by her faith in God even though that faith is undeveloped.  We do well to imitate it along with her generosity.  We want to do all that God has commanded through Moses and, especially, Jesus.  In today’s gospel Jesus tells his disciples to be salt and light.  He is telling us to lift people’s spirits with works motivated by love.

Tuesday, June 7, 2022

 Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

(I Kings 17:7-16; Matthew 5:13-16)

A Dominican priest in Pakistan had a large Muslim following.  The people considered him a holy man of God.  They would wait for him after mass outside church.  There he would bless them.  The blessing evidently brought cures and other graces.  The widow of Zarephath looks at Elijah in this way.

The widow is not a daughter of Israel.  She tells Elijah, “’As the Lord, your God, lives...”  She must recognize the power of God, or she would not invoke an oath in His name.  She also acknowledges the authority of God’s prophet when she obeys his commands.

The woman is saved by her faith in God even though it is still undeveloped.  We do well to imitate it along with her generosity.  We want to do all that God has commanded through Moses and, especially, Jesus.  In today’s gospel Jesus tells his disciples to be salt and light,  That is, we are to lift people’s spirits with deeds motivated by love.

Homilette for Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Tuesday of the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time

(I Kings 17:7-16; Matthew 5:13-16)

Some people may knock the word of God as hot air. But how can Americans deny its value? In a famous address Governor John Winthrop used an image from the gospel today to describe his hopes for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He said that the community should be like a “city on a hill” whose justice would be an example to all. In time America, thinking of itself – at its best moments -- in this way, would lead the world in liberty and justice. In the nineteenth century President Abraham Lincoln continually referred to the word of God in articulating his policies of abolition of slavery and reconciliation of enemies. Within the memory of many alive today the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., relied on the word of God to shape and establish a vision of human dignity and racial harmony.

The first reading today demonstrates the power of the word of God. Elijah acts on its demanding instructions. Because of its proven efficacy he can confidently tell the pagan widow of Zarephath not to fear as she exhausts her provisions feeding him. Finally, the word’s bounty provides for the woman’s continued need of food during draught.

As much as Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, we can rely on the word of God in our personal lives. We find wisdom and consolation in Scripture. Even more significantly, we ground our beings in its Eucharistic incarnation. Its shapes our thoughts and enlivens our actions so that we become, as Jesus recommends, virtual salt and light to the world. As salt we make life for others worth living; as light we show them the way to God’s Kingdom.