November 10th, 2024 - Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

We meet two unlikely heroes today and they are both widows who have no nest egg and have very few material assets to tap -- except their faith in God and their trust in his promise to sustain them no matter what. The first widow is down to her last handful of flour and a tiny bit of oil. As she is about to eke out one last meal, a hungry prophet named Elijah wanders by and asks her for something to eat. In the end, the Lord’s prophet wins out and this widow, trusting in God’s loving kindness, gives Elijah all she has to live on. As it turns out, she and her son were able to eat for a year -- her jar of flour never went empty, her jug of oil never went dry.  The second widow puts the last two coins from her purse into the Temple treasury. It’s a tiny sum to be sure, but she gave from her substance – a stunning model of sacrificial giving for Jesus’ disciples in every age. Two widows, two unlikely champions of faith – one powerful message about walking by faith and love in the midst of their sorrow and grief.
Throughout the month of November, we honor the memory of all those who have gone before us marked by their faith.  In the course of life, everybody loses somebody they love.  But the two widows teach us today that when you lose somebody dear or something precious, faith in God gets you through the pain.