Word to the Wise
Saturday, June 10, 2023 - Saturday in the 9th Week in Ordinary Time
[Tob 12:1, 5-15, 20 and Mark 12:38-44]"Prayer and fasting are good, but better than either is almsgiving accompanied by righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than abundance with wickedness. It is better to give alms than to store up gold; for almsgiving saves one from death and expiates every sin. Those who regularly give alms shall enjoy a full life; but those habitually guilty of sin are their own worst enemies." [Tobit] "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood." [Mark]
Jesus' comment about the poor widow comes after a scorching criticism of the scribes, "who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers." One might wonder if the poor widow who gives her last two coins to the temple treasury was one of their victims. She calls to mind the widow of Zarephath who gave her last food to feed Elijah [1 Kings 17:7-16], whom Jesus commended in his initial preaching in Nazareth [Luke 4:26].
There is much that could be said about the scene but I think the advice and wisdom of the angel Raphael to Tobit and Tobiah in today's first scripture is worth noting. Piety is empty if it is not validated in generosity and love of neighbor. There is little to be gained by the multiplication of devotions and prayers that ignore the plight of the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the stranger, the imprisoned [Matt. 25:31-45]. Often our political culture becomes the very antithesis of the gospel when aid to those in the list from the Gospel According to Matthew is reduced for political gain. The righteousness that the angel Raphael speaks of is not to be found in political posturing or piety but in an attitude of love of neighbor and almsgiving. AMEN