Dear Preachers:

First a Reminder:

The new liturgical year is about to begin. Here is a helpful gift for yourself, your favorite preacher, leaders of the parish RCIA program and scripture reflection groups.

I wonder how people are going to react when they hear today's first reading from

I Kings? Annoyed? Confused? Indignant? Will they say, "I just don't understand these biblical readings!" The weekly churchgoers will instinctively react with sympathy for the poor widow and her son who are starving. They might also turn their indignation on Elijah, "The nerve! How could that prophet demand water and food from that desperate woman?" We preachers might initially respond in similar ways. Should we just jump to the gospel and hope the congregation isn't paying attention to the first reading? Let's not skip over this awkward reading too quickly and instead, go digging for gold.

God had sent Elijah to Zarephath towards the end of the three-year drought in Israel. There, in pagan territory, he meets the widow who is no stranger to death and hardship. Her husband has died and the world around her is perishing in withering drought. She lives in a patriarchal land and, as a widow, no longer has the protection of the home she had with her family, nor the protection of her husband. She is one of the most vulnerable in her world. But Elijah is too. He is in a foreign land without food or drink and he must rely on someone who has almost nothing. Yet, how could he be so bold? So seeming heartless in his request for food from this poor widow?

Though Elijah was a foreigner, the middle eastern culture of hospitality required people to provide for a visitor, even if it meant the host would have nothing left for themselves – the widow and her son's predicament. But the widow does have a kind of faith in Elijah's God, shown in her response to his request, "As the Lord, your God, lives.…" She may not be a member of Elijah's faith, but she acknowledges his living God.

Elijah's response to the widow echoes God's response to those in need throughout the Bible, "Do not be afraid." We might say that to a person in severe need. We are well-intentioned, but can't always do much to pull a person out of their dire situation. But Elijah is God's prophet and when he speaks he speaks for God, revealing, once again, that our God notices and acts in favor of the needy and outcast. The woman's pagan gods couldn't help her, but Elijah's God could. The woman followed Elijah's words and the living God came to her rescue. Her acclamation proved true, "As the Lord, your God, lives."

The Responsorial Psalm today is from Psalm 146. It is our response to the graciousness of God who comes to the aid of the vulnerable. "The Lord keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed."

Guided by what we have heard in our first reading we turn now to the gospel and find that our two unnamed widows, the widow as Zaraphath and our gospel widow, have much in common: their need and God's awareness of their plight.

The gospel widow, who "has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood," is often used as an example of super-generous giving. She becomes the example in a pitch for giving more in the collection basket, or some other need. In other words: follow the widow’s generosity and give till it hurts! But is that the point Jesus is trying to make when he calls his disciples together to observe the widow’s contribution to the Temple treasury?

It sounds like today's gospel passage is in two unrelated parts: Jesus' warning about the hypocritical scribes and the widow’s Temple donation. But notice what links the two section – the mention in both parts of widows.

Jesus gathers his disciples and points out to them the ostentatious scribes who went around in public wearing long robes to attract people's admiration and to seek deference in the synagogues and at banquet tables. They may be vain and pompous, but that's not such a big deal. No, but in addition, these pompous scribes who appear pious and God-fearing also exploit the very ones God favors and has consistently shown concern for, the least in society – like widows. What's worse, the scribes not only exploited the vulnerable, they did it in the name of religion. The scribes were religious laymen who did not receive a salary, but relied on donations. So, what the widow donated not only went for the upkeep of the Temple, but for the scribes as well.

So we have two types of observant people mentioned today. The scribes, who seemed to be the epitome of religious observance – very plain for all to see. But beneath their exterior religious garb, they were rapacious. The widow, on the other hand, reveals the true religious practice of those who have little, but express great trust in God.

There is a "squirm factor" in the gospel for those of us who have clerical collars or religious habits. People often treat us with courtesy and privilege. At weddings, banquets and anniversaries we often are seated at the head table with other guests of honor. While we are grateful, Pope Francis has reminded us to keep our eyes on the poor and not to let our institutional status separate us from the "widows" – those overlooked and locked out of the halls of privilege. Hearing today's gospel urges us to turn more fully to those Jesus calls his disciples' attention to, "this poor widow."

But it is not just those of us in leadership roles who should feel uncomfortable hearing Jesus speak to us today. He is indicting any religious system that burdens the poor and separates itself from their plight. We, of the white, mainline churches, need to listen to Jesus's words. We are tempted to preserve our systems and benefit from what they give us: standing in the community, predictability, stability and a blessing of the status quo. The church's history also reveals how we have blessed armies that invaded and enslaved indigenous peoples, preached slavery and oppression. Our religious apparatus has tended to side more with Caesar and with the economic and political world that belongs to Caesar.

Jesus condemns those individuals and institutions that benefit from the burdens put on the poor. He said previously in Mark (11:17) that the Temple had become a den of thieves and not a house of prayer. He predicted it would all come tumbling down. Today's passage illustrates why this destruction was inevitable, because it was corrupt and was supported by the giving of those who had the least, "She, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood."

We want to be careful not to heap opprobrium on the Jewish community and its religious practices, as if to say, "That's the way it was, but now Jesus is the new Temple and those abuses have been eliminated from our worship and religious life." No one can be that naive! Conscious of our own institutional and local church’s excesses, we take seriously the opening rite at each Eucharistic celebration which implores, "Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy"

If the church, or our parish, were to write a "Mission Statement," we could use today's gospel as our inspiration. From it we learn our mission to: notice the unnoticed, see their needs, join their struggle for freedom and fight against the injustice they experience. We accept this, our calling, because Jesus has once again, "observed" the discrepancy in society and religion; "called his disciples" to also observe what he does and invited us to give all that we have in service in the new Temple established by his death and resurrection and gifted with his holy Spirit.

Click here for a link to this Sunday’s readings:

November--the month of giving thanks for the harvest. Yet, the harvest of food remains out of reach for many in our abundant land and throughout the world. One of the documents from the Second Vatican Council states, "Faced with a world today where so many people are suffering from want, the council asks individuals and governments to remember the saying of the Fathers: "Feed the people dying of hunger, because if you do not feed them you are killing them," and it urges them according to their ability to share and dispose of their goods to help others, above all by giving them aid which will enable them to help and develop themselves (Gaudium et Spes, 69). This document was written fifty years ago and is even more relevant today as we see in the 2009 writing of Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI: "‘Feed the hungry’ (cf. MT 25: 35, 37, 42) is an ethical imperative for the universal Church as she responds to the teachings of her Founder, the Lord Jesus, concerning solidarity and the sharing of goods. Moreover, the elimination of world hunger has also, in the global era, become a requirement for safeguarding the peace and stability of the planet" (Caritas in Veritate, 27). You see, it is not weapons that will give security to the planet but food and the ability for self-development.

What can parishioners do? The tool is a three-pronged fork:

1. Help prepare and serve food for one of our ministries--Helen Wright Shelter for Women, Moore Square Meals Ministry, or Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network.

2. Contribute funds for the purchase of food for our Catholic Parish Outreach pantry, or other organizations like Food for the Poor or Cross Catholic Outreach or Stop Hunger Now. You can also purchase Fair Trade products from our Global Outreach Ministry in order to help third world farmers.

3. Join in advocating to end hunger and work to create a more just world. This is probably the area where we can have the most impact and what we often do the least. One of the best advocacy groups is Bread for the World as it brings people from many faith traditions to be a collective Christian voice in urging our nation’s decision makers to change the policies and conditions that allow hunger to persist.

This month, every time you pray the "Our Father" contemplate that we pray for ‘our daily bread.’ Then, take action, as "a way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth" (Pope Francis 6/20/13).

---Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS

Coordinator of Social Justice Ministries Sacred Heart Cathedral--Raleigh, N.C.

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Beware of the scribes.... They devour the houses of widows and,

as a pretext recite lengthy prayers."

Jesus condemns those religious individuals and institutions that benefit from the burdens put on the poor. Conscious of our own institutional and local church’s excesses, we take seriously the opening rite at each Eucharistic celebration which implores, "Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy."

• Does my religious practice include noticing the poor around me?
• Does my parish have opportunities to welcome and serve the least? Do I participate?

Inmates on death row are the most forgotten people in the prison system. Each week I post in this space several inmates’ names and addresses. I invite you to write a postcard to one or more of them to let them know we have not forgotten them. If you like, tell them you heard about them through North Carolina’s, "People of Faith Against the Death Penalty." If the inmate responds you might consider becoming pen pals.

Please write to:

• Jeffrey N. Duke #0113234 (On death row since 9/26/03)
• Linwood E. Forte #0133102 (10/8/03)
• Scott D. Allen #0005091 (11/18/03)

----Central Prison 4285 Mail Service Center, Raleigh 27699-4285

If you would like to support this ministry, please send tax deductible contributions to fr. Jude Siciliano, O.P.

St. Albert Priory 3150 Vince Hagan Drive Irving, Texas 75062-4736

1. We have compiled Four CDS for sale:

• Individual CDs for each Liturgical Year, A, B or C
• One combined CD for "Liturgical Years A, B and C."

If you are a preacher, lead a Lectionary-based scripture group, or are a member of a liturgical team, these CDs will be helpful in your preparation process. Individual worshipers report they also use these reflections as they prepare for Sunday liturgy.

(These CDs have been updated twice in the last five years.)

Where you will find "Preachers’ Exchange," which includes "First Impressions" and "Homilías Dominicales," as well as articles, book reviews, daily homilies and other material pertinent to preaching.

4. "First Impressions" is a service to preachers and those wishing to prepare for Sunday worship. It is sponsored by the Dominican Friars. If you would like "First Impressions" sent weekly to a friend, send a note to fr. John Boll, OP at the above email address.