November 7, 2021 (32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time)
/by Fr. Xavier Lavagetto, O.P.
[This is the text composed by the homilist prior to delivering the homily.]
It’s been decades, but I still can feel the heat of El Paso. It was 120 degrees when I landed! Sure, it cooled to 116 degrees, but try living and working in a two-story brick building without air conditioners or even fans. I took bus rides to nowhere such to cool in the air-conditioned buses. I worked at Annunciation House, a shelter for the homeless and undocumented. It was unique in the large number of abandoned mothers; they were the modern-day widows of our readings.
They were amazing; they shared everything, living lessons of self-less generosity. We lived togethering, cooking, cleaning, praying, and eating as a family. They were like the women in today’s readings who gave their all.
Yet like so many women still, they were pushed aside to women spaces. They were powerless and voiceless. It was made harder in ancient Israel because if their husband died, they inherited nothing. … No wonder widows and orphans were the symbols of abject poverty in the scriptures.
So is today’s Gospel merely contrasting the widow’s generosity with the chump change of the scribes who “contributed from their surplus wealth, [while] she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, … her whole livelihood.” Was Jesus merely praising her or saying something more?
Now I admit it; I cheated. I read a few extra verses of the Gospel to place the story in its context between Jesus’ condemning the scribes who “devour the houses of widows,” and his words about the temple’s destruction. “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be one stone left upon another that will not be thrown down.” Even timeless stone can be overturned.
Viewed in its context, what seems praise “becomes a social indictment. (cf. John Pilch) Jesus does not only praise her, he laments her condition.
I was humbled by the generosity of the mothers at Annunciation House; they shared everything they had, yet their misery was an indictment against Texas Welfare that was euphemistic named the Texas Board of Human Resources.
Do not misunderstand me; I am not complaining about ancient Jewish care for the poor; Israel were a notable exception of caring in the Mediterranean world. The temple and synagogues provided food and resources. The commands to care for the widow, the orphan, and the alien were so engraved in Jewish law that it have made modern Jewry one of the most generous of groups.
Yet too many wealthy leaders did not care. So much so that the Prophet insist God refuses to listen to their prayer and worship because of their deafness to cry of the poor. “Though you pray the more, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds …; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.”
Is our age any less deaf than Isaiah’s? Most preachers will talk about the widow’s self-less giving. … She gave her whole livelihood. … Most don’t quite hear Jesus’ social indictment! … Too many women globally are powerless and voiceless. When will we listen and respond? … Our politics tell us what to hear and what to ignore. Our divisiveness wants to win arguments rather than respond to people. Our age is one of political rage; it can’t hear others, because it only listens to itself!
No wonder the Holy Father has called for a two-year process of listening! Listening to the voices of people, listening for the Spirit’s call in them. He postponed the 2022 Synod of Bishops one year, and asked every Diocese, every parish, every active Catholic, every lapsed Catholic, every baptized person of whatever denomination to listen to people’s lived experiences and then to discern what is the Holy Spirit asking?
This is unprecedented; it has not happened on such a global scale before! Don’t just do Church, be the Church on fire with the Spirit. … Listening to the Holy Spirit is at the heart of Gospel. St. Paul is blunt; If we are to have life by the Spirit, be guided by the Spirit. Rm 8:25 It is the very nature of the Church to be the listening, responding sacrament of Christ’s presence.
A synod is meeting, but the Pope coined a new word, synodality from the Greek to be on the way together. … It is a mindset! … Around the world, parishes and dioceses have eagerly taken up the call, while the American Church has so dawdled and delayed that the Vatican has extended the listening process until August 2022.
Not waiting, we are forming our own planning committee. Interested in joining? Contact me! We need more students! And when the process goes public in the neext quarter, I beg you, participate!
Pope Francis is challenging you to become alive like Jesus. He said: Nothing leaves Jesus indifferent; everything is of concern to him. Encountering faces, meeting eyes, sharing each individual’s history. … True encounter arises only from listening.
The Synod is a process of listening for the Spirit call in the lived experience of people but before the public process begins, practice listening now!
First, practice listening to yourself! Reflect on your own thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Ask: What is God saying to me through them? … Have no clue? (a) Learn about St. Ignatius’s Examen. It is his way of discerning and responding to God in your day. Have a smart phone? Get the app, Reimagining the Examen.
(b) Go on our retreat: Entering the Ignatian Quiet. It is almost fully subscribed. Can’t get in? Email me! We can design something for you.
Second, practice listening to others. Listening is an art. The first step of transforming acquaintances into friends is attentive and appreciative listening. Create a space for trust. The greatest gift you give to others is yourself, and our greatest sadness is not being heard. Practice listening. And then later ask yourself: How is God asking me to respond to this person?
The Pope is calling for an adventure of the Spirit. Take the risk!
Last comment: Please take and read the handout on the Synod! In the next weeks, we will be giving several handouts with tips to engage with God’s surprises!
Handout: The Revolution of Synodality >> [DOCX file]
