Grow as a Disciple

Pray, Study, Engage and Serve

“Give it your all! Leave it all on the field! Trust in your training/preparation/coaches.” We’ve all heard a version of this type of exhortation. It requires a great amount of confidence and trust – faith, if you will – to let go of our doubt and fears. The two widows of today’s readings had such confidence, as they offer us heroic examples of faith. The window of Zarephath uses her only remaining food to cook for Elijah. She did this after receiving God’s promise that, “The jar of flour shall not empty, nor the jug id oil run dry.” The widow had the assurance that God would sustain her, and she lived by it- trusting she could give her all, because with God’s help there would be more, Likewise, the widow in the Gospel could make an offering to the temple treasury because of her limitless confidence in God: she gave “her whole livelihood.” From that moment, she would have nothing to sustain her but God’s providential care. By their unreserved acts of generosity, both women consented to rely on God in most absolute sense. And in so doing, they silently proclaimed their faith in the personal and unconditional love that God had for each of them.