Written my Sr. Rosemary O.P.
In our first reading, we see two examples of people exercising their faith…Elijah the Prophet, and the desperate widow. Elijah the Prophet was dramatic, a tough guy with a tender heart, and got his food in very unconventional ways. We see his compassion in today’s story as he miraculously multiplies food for the poor widow. His name means “Yahweh is my God” and his faith in God is uncompromising.
However, when it comes to showing faith, I think the widow deserves a lot of credit. Here she is, famished, poverty-stricken, and not even an Israelite. Yet this woman showed enough faith in the word of the prophet alone, and in his God, that she uses up her last meager resources to feed him. The miracle that resulted proved her faith was well-founded.
I’m reading a book by Fr. Thomas Casey (Wisdom At The Crossroads) who’s commenting on the life work of a Jesuit theologian, Fr. Michael Gallagher, who had great insight about faith. He believes that if we live our faith first, then we will discover what faith means. In other words, faith isn’t something you first work out in your head. Faith, he says, is found in practice. The way we live our life, and the choices we make and act on, will affect the kind of faith we have.
This widow could easily have made a choice not to share her meager supplies with Elijah, but she did. She probably had been making choices like that all her life. She generously shared whatever she had been given to her family, her friends, and those in need, ever trusting that this was the right thing to do. She had faith and acted on it. Jesus wants all of us to have the kind of faith that this woman had, the kind of faith that believes and takes action, even when everything seems stacked against us.
Perhaps this woman is a good example and reminder that faith is a gift, but it’s a gift we need to develop by making it living and active. Faith, our prized possession, is strengthened and grows when it is given to others. Then we become, as our gospel says, salt and light for the world.
Like the widow of Zarephath, may our faith become stronger, more confident and increase as we practice it so that we, too, may become generous enough to share it with others.
