• 1 Kings 17:10-16. The poor widow makes bread for Elijah with her last remaining ingredients only to be blest by God with a year’s worth of flour and oil.
• Hebrews 9:24-28. Christ is the high priest who has removed our sins through his sacrifice. He will come again to bring salvation for those who await him.
• Mark 12:38-44. Jesus warns his disciples against the hypocrisy of the scribes. Jesus then teaches the disciples the true meaning of charity through the example of the poor widow.

Thoughts for your consideration: By John Gonzalez

This week we learn about the true nature of charity. Charity is a prominent virtue of our Catholic faith. In the second chapter of the letter to the Galatians Paul recounts the Jerusalem controversy with the early Christian community over the issue of circumcision. Verse 10 of that chapter reveals the universal importance of charity to the fledgling Christian faith. From this account we know that even during the earliest moment of our Church’s history there have been issues of disagreement. But the topic of charity, “that we remember the poor,” has been a consistent unifying element as the Church developed and spread. No one can argue that charity is an important value within our faith tradition. But like everything else even the concept of charity must evolve so that we can fulfill the spirit of charity within our changing social environment. It is perhaps for this reason that Pope Benedict XVI took the time to devout his recent encyclical to what he called “Charity in Truth.” What is Christian charity in the context of Globalization?

In the Gospel and in the first reading we are told about the spirit of charity. Charity is not only the act of giving. In the Gospel Jesus warns against the mere image of charity where people give comfortably from their surplus and yet do it in a way that publically inflates their image of being charitable and holy people. In both readings we hear that charity is the selfless act of giving especially when it is truly challenging to give. The spirit of charity is not based on our ability to give what is no longer important or desirable for us, it is the ability to give based on the necessity of others.

In the encyclical “Charity in Truth” Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that true charity can only be understood in relationship to justice. For some time now the values of charity and justice have been understood within a hierarchy of values where the individual acts of charity is of principle importance and the work of promoting social justice is secondary. According to the encyclical this is not charity in truth. “Charity goes beyond justice… I cannot “give” what is mine to the other, without first giving him what pertains to him in justice. If we love others with charity, then first of all we are just towards them.”

The encyclical goes on to redefine justice as the act of social and political charity which we are all obliged to give. We are responsible for both individual acts of charity and social acts of charity. This being the case we are not allowed to merely promote voluntary acts of charity while advocating against social laws that promote justice. We cannot feel comfortable with preaching individual charity while denying social programs to help the poor and marginalized. To truly embody charity we must do both. Like the widows in both readings we have to accept the challenge to give for the sake of societies needs. The way this is structured in our society is through a system of taxation that is specifically designated for social programs such as housing, healthcare, education and food programs. The encyclical and today’s scripture readings do not teach us to be libertarians. Instead we are taught to promote the “common good” through our individual and social acts of charity.             

The second reading reminds us that this call to the challenge of promoting “charity in truth” is not built on the social wisdom of this world. It is based on our faith in the “Kingdom of God.” The reading in the letter to the Hebrews tell us about the eschatological mystery where the “Kingdom Of God” is already revealed to us through Jesus but we also await its ultimate establishment in what we call the second coming. This reminds us that we are expected to live and express the true value of charity even in the midst of our imperfect society. We are the individual witnesses to the “Kingdom” and it is through us, united in our relationship with Christ, that we will slowly bring about the true “Kingdom.” This reminds us to persevere in our social and individual acts of true charity and to not be discouraged by the unjust realities of our society or to fall victims of a more convenient  and possibly hypocritical form of charity.