Sunday Homily, November 11, 2012, 32nd Ordinary Time B
Readings:
1 Kings 17, 10-16, When we have eaten it, we shall die.
Psalm 146, Praise the Lord, my soul.
Hebrews 9, 24-28, He will bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.
Mark 12, 38-44, A poor widow came and put in two small coins.
Kings:
Author & date of composition: the work is a compilation of numerous sources put together near the end of the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 550.
Subject Matter: 1 Kings is part of a 4 book work that includes 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings. The 3 kings are Saul, David, and his son, Solomon.
The work begins with Samuel, the last great judge, continues through the lives of the 3 kings, and finally shows how Solomon’s sons’ squabbles led to the division of the Jewish nation into two states, north & south, Israel & Judah. Both states were defeated and the people of Judah taken into the Babylonian Captivity. It ends on a high note when Cyrus of Persia defeats Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, and allows the Jews to return to Jerusalem.
The Theme: you be good, good things happen to you; you be bad, bad things happen to you.
Our selection: 2 great prophets lived when the kingdom divided, Elijah & Elisha. They criticized the bad ways of the sons. In this selection, Elijah tells the king he is going to send a drought to the king's land. Then Elijah goes away & meets a poor, starving widow with a son. Watch what happens. This is setting us up for a little widow in the gospel.
Contribute all I have, my whole livelihood?
I want to talk about a marvelous event I saw take place on a Southwest airplane.
Last week Rosemary & I went to Chicago to visit a friend of mine since all the way back to our days at Christ the King grade school. My friend, Pete, he and I parted after high school and we saw each other maybe half a dozen times all these years up until recently.
When I entered the Jesuits in Louisiana, he entered the F.B.I. and worked his whole life in and out of Chicago. He was always athletic and last year told me he ran the Chicago Marathon 10 times.
So we fly Southwest to Chicago on Tuesday and return Wednesday. The visit goes fine and we prepare to return home. When we boarded in Chicago we were a bit nervous because the plane homeward bound was booked solid and we were on standby. We make it okay.
Before arriving at Love Field we make a quick stop in Kansas City. Half the plane empties, and refills just short of full. Rather quickly all the new passengers are seated. The overhead bins are stuffed full and closed.
Rosemary and I are seated two thirds of the way back, together this time. Everything is copasetic and ready for departure.
At this point down the aisle comes a slightly heavy lady. She is pulling a roll on, max size.
When she gets to us she sees a flight attendant approaching from the back. “Where can I place my bag?” she asks.
“I think all the bins are full, Ma’am. Would you like to check your bag?”
“No,” responds the woman somewhat bluntly.
Meanwhile the flight attendant is patiently opening and trying to find space, but this lady’s roll on is not small. And her posture says she is not backing down. The flight attendant is pleasant but starting to get a bit frustrated.
We are at crisis point, I think to myself.
Then, the most amazing thing happens. The woman in the aisle seat right across from me and Rosemary says to the flight attendant, “You may check my bag that is overhead and put her bag in my place.”
I could not believe.
The woman then mentions that she has $20,000 worth of equipment in her bag and she cannot stow it. It would have helped to know this from the start. However, the bag in the bin went underneath and the late arriving bag went in the bin.
I talk about this because the woman who offered her bag resembled the two women in the stories. Both women gave a lot of themselves.
Three observations.
First, I bet a lot of parishioners are hearing how they should be donating to their parish like this little lady in Mark. It is a set up. And it is a really narrow approach to the story.
Secondly, watch out for Mark’s use of infinite demand. Am I supposed to likewise contribute all I have, my whole livelihood? Not quite, which leads to my next point.
Thirdly, we are called to help and to contribute, not just money, but so much else, my roll on, my time, my positive strokes of others, my efforts to help people recover from a hurricane, like the St. Bonaventure kids and staff are doing.
Of course, when leaving that plane I complimented the lady on her offering her roll on to be stowed and I asked the flight attendant her name so I could send in a compliment to corporate, which I did. That was my small offering to the event.
Whom are you helping today?