Last Sunday’s readings from Scripture called to mind how God’s law is best summed up in one statement: “Love God and neighbor as you love yourself.” As I noted, this statement presumes we first love ourselves. I also noted how that statement differentiates those who are “Christmas crib Catholics” from those who strive to be “Good Friday crucifix Catholics.”
This week’s readings from Scripture call to mind what it means to feel “loved by God” which, we can presume, is the consequence of loving God and neighbor as we first love ourselves. To prompt our thoughts in this regard, the gospel invokes the image of a poor widow who Jesus praised for the reason she gave all she had to the Temple treasury. The widow didn’t give a paltry, relatively meaningless pittance or even a more substantial amount like a tithe (10% of her gross income) that would require some “belt tightening” on her part. No, the widow emptied her entire piggy bank, donating the proceeds to the Temple treasury, asking for nothing in return.
Complicating this narrative and increasing its intensity is the culture of the ancient Near East. In contrast to our culture, if a widow’s husband left her nothing, her children didn’t owe their mom anything. [Recall the dictum from Genesis: “This is why a man leaves his mother and father and cleaves to his wife”...not the mother-in-law!] Widows confronting this harsh and sometimes brutal reality were left to fend for themselves, with begging perhaps being the most honorable of the options available when survival is at stake.
Oftentimes, our thoughts seize immediately upon the widow’s poverty and what it meant for her to donate those two coins…what in our culture would include emptying a checking account, savings account, and IRA. While it would have made sense had the widow retained one of the two coins for herself—50% of her wealth—and we’d probably think that wise, she’d have made her calculation based upon self-interest not unadulterated “love of God” who made it possible for her to possess those two coins in the first place.
That’s how “crib Catholics” think. Before making any decision, they’re sure to calculate what’s in their self-interest not what love of God and neighbor mandates...turning the first commandment on its ear. That is, living the Catholic faith for “crib Catholics” isn’t like being married—a “0-100” proposition on the part of both parties to the contract—but more of a “50-50” or even better yet a “25-75” proposition”—that is, if I “give”…I also should “get” back at least in an equal amount and hopefully more.
But, wasn’t the widow’s logic.
She didn’t believe it would be right, proper, and just to give God only 25% or 50% but the entire 100%, in effect depriving herself of everything upon which she could depend for survival other than the One to whom she was lavishly and freely giving her gift. Casting her fate in this world upon God, the widow’s belief was that, by doing so, she would possess everything...because it’s “in giving that we receive.” Demonstrating complete love of God—turning to God and trusting in God 100%—the widow symbolizes Jesus who entrusted himself 100% to his heavenly Father because it is “in dying that we’re born into eternal life.”
This decision-making process represents the logic and conduct of “crucifix Catholics.”
Today, to “feel loved by God” doesn’t require emptying our wallets but our hearts of any selfish love of self that would function as an impediment to loving God and neighbor as we love ourselves. The measurement of the purity of our intention isn’t quantitative—the size of one’s wallet and the percentage of it we donate annually to the parish—as “crib Catholics” believe and make their calculations about what love of God requires. No, the measurement is qualitative—its fulness in the way we give to God and neighbor from the heart—as “crucifix Catholics” put that into practice by not keeping something in reserve for themselves. This is what Jesus meant when he taught, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Like the widow in today’s gospel, “Crucifix Catholics” realize that everything they have been given and possess has been made possible by God. They know that as recipients of God free and lavish self-giving, they must be equally generous with others.
Since today’s gospel focuses upon what in Jesus’ day was called the “Temple tax,” consider one of the arguments that inevitably arises each time reform of the 28k+ page U.S. Tax Code is brought up. In particular, one reform—eliminating the tax deduction for charitable giving—generates cries of outrage on the part of an array of different self-interested parties including churchmen, leaders of qualified non-profit organizations, and ordinary taxpayers who take advantage of being able to deduct their charitable contributions from their annual IRS 1040. What’s crucial about this deduction is it decreases the total amount of tax dollars those folks and corporate entities will have to fork over annually to the IRS.
Yet, consider for a moment the logic behind all this feigned outrage: Those “charitable” deductions have very little to do with personal “largesse”—the quantity and quality of the “donation”—and very much to do with all those other folks and corporate entities which subsidize those “charitable deductions” through the federal taxes they pay annually. One easy way this logic is exposed is when those taxpayers are asked: “How much would you donate to charity if you didn’t receive a tax deduction?” Poll after poll indicate most wouldn’t…because that would “really hurt” in the form of increased IRS tax bills. That’s “real money” not “disposable income” and would require some belt tightening.
Notice how easily self-interest can drive both God and neighbor out of so called “charitable giving”!
But, that’s to focus upon those two coins—the “real” money—not other far more important things that we prize and guard jealously.
Time is an extremely precious possession, one we oftentimes guard as carefully as the nation’s gold deposits that are allegedly stored in Fort Knox. When others ask for assistance, “crib Catholics” respond “No, I can’t. Can’t you see I’m too busy? I just don’t have the time.” The more honest response would be “I’m not going to give you my time. I want it for myself.” In contrast, when we understand that time is one of God’s gifts—after all, we’d have zero time for anything if God hadn’t first created us—we can decide to distribute freely and lavishly upon others, giving our time away just as freely and lavishly as God has given it to us.
Attention is another possession that we carefully guard, perhaps second only to time. Yet, carefully it and paying close attention to using it solely for what interests us, we grow blind to the needs of others. “Crib Catholics” respond “Stop bothering me. Can’t you see I’m already doing something?” because they’re too busy watching TV, texting on their cellphone, or attending to a host of other trifling matters when compared to the “cry of the poor.” The more honest response would be “I’m just not interested in you right now.” When we view our self-interests as primary and others’ self-interests as secondary or tertiary, we pass by, leaving the man born blind begging on the side of the road, just like Jesus’ disciples did in Jericho on their way to Jerusalem as we heard in the gospel we heard two weeks ago.
Then there’s “self-giving.” This is a qualitative not a quantitative variable that’s measured in terms of the depth to which we immerses ourselves in the lives of others, not allowing our self-interests to trump our love for them. “Crib Catholics” ask “What are you doing?” with a decided tone of indifference that’s evident not just in the question’s tone but in the way their body language remains focused upon what they’re attending to, not heeding for one moment the person asking for assistance. This evil is especially pernicious in marriages and families, when spouses aren’t attentive to one another’s interests and needs, when parents aren’t attentive the interests and needs of their children, and when children don’t give one whit about what parents need. This kind of neglect is fueled by a lack of self-giving that leaves others feeling dejected and alienated, as if they account for little or nothing in the lives of those significant others who otherwise profess to love them. The more honest response would be “Right now, I care about myself and what I want to do more than I care about you and what you need.”
In so many ways, these coins—time, attention, and self-giving—are more precious to us than “real” money.
In contrast to “crib Catholics,” “crucifix Catholics” willingly deprive themselves of essential not superfluous possessions when others express a need. They lavishly bestow in abundance the gifts of time, attention, and themselves immediately, unconditionally, and without giving it a second thought. Consider a mother who’s awoken by a crying child at 2:30 a.m. and, without giving a thought to it, rushes to the child’s side, Also consider a child who cheerfully offers to assist a parent by performing household or yard chores without have to be asked. Then there’s the husband who serendipitously presents a dozen roses to his wife at dinner for no special occasion, parents who get up early on Saturday mornings to cheer on their three-year-old child at a pee-wee soccer, baseball, or football game, or a dad who turns down having an adult beverage with some colleagues after work so he can watch his daughter’s basketball game or performance in a school play.
As important and meaningful as those little things are—they’re what St. Thérèse of Lisieux called the “little way”—what about making God more central to the way we live each day? For example: Spouses who take time to study Scripture and pray together, parents who make sure their family prays together and worships regularly, and young people who actually go to and invite friends to attend a bible study or religious education class.
As we heard in today’s first reading, Elijah the prophet requested the widow to please bring a small cupful of water to drink. As the widow responded without question, Elijah upped the ante by requesting even more, telling her “Please bring along a bit of bread.” Sensing that a generous response would endanger the welfare of both the widow and her son, Elijah told the widow “Don’t be afraid.”
Suffice it to say, the moral and spiritual problems that afflict all too many Catholic marriages and families today and have contributed to our culture’s increasing secularization is how “crib Catholics” cling to their “mite,” clutching what has the potential to give life to others if only those “crib Catholics” were willing to donate those two coins to perform God’s work.
“Don’t be afraid.”
As the weeks of Ordinary Time rapidly wane towards their nadir and a new Church year is about to unfold, our challenge from scripture for this week is: To share our “mite” freely and lavishly with those God will place in our midst.
How might we do that?
This week, focus upon one mite—it could be time, attention, or self-giving—and start each day with a sincere prayer:
Lord, thank you for blessing me with _____. Heal my selfishness today by placing into my life people who need it and stir up the power of your Spirit within me to give it away freely and lavishly.
This moral and spiritual exercise will assist each of us to cooperate with God’s grace to overcome the habitual sin of thinking that everything God has freely and lavishly given us is a personal possession, one to be jealously guarded. Maybe not this week but over time, you and I will grow as “crucifix Catholics” who are striving to give others 100%, not 25% or 50%, because we love God and neighbor as we first love ourselves.
When we grasp this truth like the widow in Zarephath, we also will find our jar of flour didn’t go empty nor did our jug of oil run dry, as the Lord foretold. In this way, we will experience God’s love this week and we will respond from our hearts what our lips just uttered in today’s Psalm response, “Praise the Lord, my soul!”
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