Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B

As a kid one of the triggers of my asthma was identified as dust mites. Tiny little creatures that cannot be seen without a microscope - scavengers that live off discarded skin cells and inflame the airways of those that are vulnerable. So when I heard the story in this Sunday's Gospel reading referred to as the widow's mite, I was happy for God to take all the mites he wanted. I'd have been better off without them.

But as I've heard this same story year after year, I have come to think of it not as the widow's mite, but the widow's heart. And the Psalm that we hear along with it has something to do with that.

In this hymn of praise the Psalmist tells us that it is the Lord that gives bread to the hungry, who protects the stranger who raises up those that are put down by others, who sets prisoners free. It is the Lord that is just, and generous, and loving. When we do these things then, when we are just and generous, we are living a life that reflects the heart of God.

By contrast, the Scribes in this story trigger Jesus. He doesn't mince his words, describing them as obsequious men. Scavengers that swallow up the property of widows. They have given to the Temple treasury with their hands, but their hearts are focused only on themselves, their trappings, their honour and what they have to gain.

Then, changing both His posture and His tone, Jesus sits down, observes the comings and goings of the Temple crowd and notes that "She has put in everything that she possessed."

The real difference is not what the widow has given, but what she has given it with. Like the Lord in the Psalm, the widow has a generous heart. And we see through her that, what the Psalmist has praised in God is not an unattainable ideal, but a lived response that we are called to embody.

I have never grown out of my asthma, but as I hear the story of the widow's heart this Sunday I pray that I can grow away from self-centredness and towards the heart of Jesus.

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