Dcn. Tom McClelland's Homily:
        32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Nov 12, 2006

These scriptures—these words of God—invite us to look very closely at a critically important Christian concept: self-sacrifice.  In the gospel, we just heard the story of what is often called the "widow's mite."  She put into the collection basket two small coins, about one sixty-fourth of a day's wage.  That would be 7 and a half minute's worth of your pay.  But Jesus recognized that she gave from her very livelihood.  It was a true sacrifice.  In his words, she contributed "all she had."  She held back nothing.

In the first reading, the widow of Zarephath perceived Elijah as a man of God, and although she expected that she and her son would soon starve to death because of the drought that was occurring, she did not decline to give him the food he asked for.  She placed true faith and trust in God's promise, as spoken by Elijah, that her jar of flour would not go empty.  Both widows are prime examples of self-sacrifice.

To explore this concept of self-sacrifice a little bit, let's take a one-question multiple-choice quiz.  Ready?  The purpose of this is to be clear that we understand what self-sacrifice really means.  So, which of the following do you think best represents self-sacrifice?

A.   Tying yourself to an anthill for three hours.

B.   Coming out $500 ahead some night at the casino; and when you get home two hours later, giving $100 to your designated driver.

C.   Quitting smoking cold turkey after being a regular smoker for many years.

D.   Serving as a Hope Chest volunteer worker 3 hours a week for at least six months in a row.

So, is it the pain of the anthill?  Or giving away $100 of your winnings?  Or quitting smoking?  Or donating 3 hours of your time every week at Hope?

Often, self-sacrifice can be construed as being painful or stressful in some way, but the self-inflicted pain of the anthill is purely self-abuse — as well as being absurd.  So, zero points for answer A.  And by the way, it obviously doesn't have to be an anthill.  Any thing you make yourself do with masochistic overtones is clearly not Christian self-sacrifice.  Also zero points for answers B and C, I think.  Giving 100 bucks from your net winnings, while it may be a generous tip, is clearly giving from your surplus (you didn't even have that money a few hours previously).  And Jesus, in our gospel, denigrated the idea of giving only from your surplus.  There is nothing sacrificial about that.  As for quitting smoking cold turkey, this is probably a very good idea, actually.  But the direct beneficiary is yourself, and so the pain of this exercise is more self-benefiting than self-sacrificing for others.  The best of our four options is clearly answer D: volunteering at the thrift store 3 hours a week.  This option could also be about any other volunteer service, provided it takes a meaningful bite out of your time available for other things, especially your favorite things.

Self-sacrifice means giving up a meaningful part of yourself for the benefit of others or for a cause.  It involves going that extra mile.  There are several meaningful parts of yourself.  For example, you can give generously of your time and your talent.   This is probably the most tangible form of self-sacrifice, because you have to be present personally for the whole duration of the giving.  In our busy world of today, freely giving 3 or more hours a week to help another person is truly meaningful.  Doing that week after week is indeed a self-sacrifice.

Another example of meaningful giving is to dig into your checkbook a little deeper than last week or last month to make a charitable donation.  Fr. Jim has spoken clearly and often about the need and the merit of everyone's giving to the Catholic Services Appeal.  Also, as you know, our St. Ignatius parish is now planning for a capital campaign starting soon to raise funds for renovation our church building.  Project Hope would also welcome your regular cash donations for the needy of our St. Ignace community.

So there are three examples of immediate opportunities for self-sacrifice: our parish, our community, and our diocese.  Of course, we still expect your donations in the weekly collection basket to continue as well.  As an aside, you know a lot of people think Catholic customs all began in the Middle Ages (stations of the cross, holy water, Gregorian chant, for example), but did you notice—the collection basket thing goes way back, even before Christ.

So, the concept of self-sacrifice—the giving of a meaningful part of yourself for the benefit of others—goes back a long, long ways.  The widow of Zarephath sacrificed herself for Elijah's needs 2,800 years ago.  And the widow in the gospel put her two small coins in the temple collection 2000 years ago.  In those ancient cultures, both of those widows, with no husband to provide for them, were literally at the mercy of all those around them.  They themselves were dependent on the generosity of others.  They had no social security, no welfare, no 401Ks, and no pension plans.  But the thing they had—and that we must have—to be truly self-sacrificing is faith.

These widows did not know where their next meal was coming from, but they had faith that God would provide, and they gave to others all that they had.  In contrast, our prevailing wisdom says pay the bills first, then give to the poor a portion of your bonus check or tax refund.  But the widow of Zarephath gives first and asks questions about her own needs later.  You can see clearly her great faith.

We don't know anything about how well the gospel widow fared in the days after she gave her mite to God.  But we do know that, by divine intervention, the little bit of oil and flour the widow of Zarephath had lasted day after day until the famine ended in the land.  She who had been willing to give a cup of cold water and a small cake to a prophet certainly received a prophet's reward.

In addition to promoting the self-sacrifice of the two widows, today's gospel also illustrates a practice or attitude that we must avoid.  In Jesus' words, avoid being like the scribes — seeking honor for themselves and, as a pretense of their piety, reciting lengthy prayers.  These particular scribes or lawyers, Jesus says, will receive a severe condemnation.  Scripture commentaries tell us that the lawyers in antiquity often served as trustees of widows' estates.  A common way of receiving their fee for this service was to get a share of the estate.  Lawyers with a reputation for piety had a better chance of improving their prospects in this process and making more for themselves, so they made sure they were seen and heard praying lengthy prayers.

A good way for us to examine the widows' actions in contrast to the actions of the scribes is to ask the premier question—what was in their hearts?  Because self-sacrificing is so important, even today, this is the same question that we must ask ourselves everyday in all of our actions.  What is the motive in our heart?  Is what we're doing loving God and our neighbor?  Do we trust that God will always provide?  Do we truly give control of our lives to him everyday?  When we see people in need, do we give up a meaningful and material part of ourselves to help them?  And do we do it in a way so as not to draw attention to ourselves?

The most self-sacrificing person ever was Jesus.  And in these scriptures, we see once again that we are called to imitate his sacrifice of love in our own lives.  We will be judged, not by how much we give—for the scribes and wealthy contributed far more than the widow.  Rather, we will be judged by the percentage we give.  Do our gifts reflect our livelihood, our means, our whole beings, all our heart and soul, mind and strength?

Are we giving all that we can to the Lord—not out of a sense of forced duty, but in a spirit of generosity and love?  That is self-sacrifice.  To quote Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Self-sacrifice is the real miracle out of which all the reported miracles grow."

May God bless you, and may the Holy Spirit be your guide.