Presider: Fr. Dan Volkert
Parish: St. Bruno & St. Paul
Choir: Holy Family

Text From the Homily

St. Vincent de Paul once said “Whatever you do, do not think of yourself but think of God.” Well I think that speaks volumes of these two widows that we see in the first reading as well as in the gospel. It's a basic biblical truth. Your faith will grow. Your life will always be enriched by the very measure by which you give it away in service to God and others in this world. What's the worst thing we could do? Cling to the very little that we have and not share it. Now notice what Jesus says, 'beware of the scribes that accept greetings in market places. Seats of honor in synagogues and banquets." Jesus here is criticizing these scribes because they're calling attention to themselves and their piety. And so what we refer to this is shameless self-promotion that they're doing. What are they really doing? These scribes are clinging to the very little that they have rather than sharing. They're grasping at titles and honor and fame. It's the ego on display. Notice Jesus, it says he sat down and watched the people put money into the treasury and many rich people put in large sums. So it begs the question how would you know how much a person put into this treasury. What you have to realize is the receptacles that collected this money, they were trumpet shaped yes, they were shaped like trumpet. So when you put your coins into the receptacle the coins would clang all the way down to the bottom. If you were a wealthy person that put a large sum, you'd put a lot of coins in that receptacle therefore they would make a lot of noise clanging all the way down so people would turn and look at you and they would know based upon all that noise that you make a large donation to the treasury. Again, it's just calling attention to yourself. But just the opposite would hold true. Like this poor widow, she put in two small coins. I'm sure it barely made any noise at all and hardly anyone noticed except one person and the most important person, Jesus Christ. Now we have to realize widows in the ancient world essentially they lived a dire situation. They essentially, if they didn't have family to take care of them or no visible means of support they're in a very precarious situation. Remember in the first century there are no social safety nets. Like we have today. There was no social security, no Medicare, no Medicaid, no food stamps. So widows in the ancient world were very vulnerable and yet despite her condition she makes a donation. And Jesus sees that. And no one else does. That's why it says he called his disciples to himself. The disciples didn't even see what she did. Here this widow she makes an incredibly generous contribution without any attention. Any fanfare whatsoever. What is she really doing? She's behaving just the opposite of the scribes. Again whatever you do, do not think of yourself, but think of God. Jesus is now going to teach the apostles and us a powerful lesson from this widow. Jesus said from her poverty she contributed all she had. Her whole livelihood. There's that biblical truth. Your faith will always grow. Your life will always be enriched by the measure in which you give it away. In service to God and others in this world. And see I think that widow in this gospel she clearly did just that. And so can we. Each and every day of our life. As we just like this widow live out our faith.

Entrance: Canticle of the Turning
Text: Luke 1:46–58; Rory Cooney, b.1952 Tune: STAR OF THE COUNTY DOWN; Irish traditional; arr. by Rory Cooney, b.1952 © 1990, GIA Publications, Inc.

Psalm 146: Praise the Lord My Soul
Text: Refrain trans., Lectionary for Mass, © 1969, 1981, 1997, ICEL; verses, New American Bible, © 1970, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Music: Michel Guimont, © 1994, 1998, GIA Publications, Inc.

Preparation: Prayer of St. Francis
Text: Prayer of St. Francis; adapt. by Sebastian Temple, 1928–1997 Tune: Sebastian Temple, 1928–1997; acc. by Robert J. Batastini, b.1942 © 1967, OCP Dedicated to Mrs. Frances Tracy

Communion: The Supper of the Lord
Text: Verses 1–4 based on John 4, 6. Text and music © 1994, 2012, Laurence Rosania. Published by OCP. All rights reserved

Sending Forth: Joyful Joyful We Adore You
Text: Henry van Dyke, 1852–1933, alt. Tune: HYMN TO JOY, 8 7 8 7 D; arr. from Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770–1827, by Edward Hodges, 1796–1867

Mass Setting: Missa Pacem
Text: ICEL, © 2010 Music: Missa Pacem, L. Randolph Babin, © 2004, 2010, GIA Publications, Inc.

Permission to podcast/stream the music in this liturgy obtained from ONE LICENSE, License No. A-718591.


www.HeartoftheNation.org

свернуть