Sunday Readings: 1 Kings 17.10-16; Hebrews 9.24-28; Mark 12.38-44
“I want you to observe that this poor widow gave more to the treasury than all the others.”
(Mark 12.43)
Widows and orphans were among the poorest people in ancient Israel. The law made care of widows and orphans the measure of Israel’s commitment to keeping the covenant. Like ourselves people throughout history have found forgetting the vulnerable easy and taking advantage of them tempting. The widow is the person in the story most like Jesus; she gives wholeheartedly all she has.
The widow in Sunday’s first reading also gives her all. She uses her last bit of flour and oil to make cakes for the prophet Elijah. She takes Elijah at his word and finds her jar of flour never goes empty and her jar of oil never runs dry.
What is the measure of your generosity?
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