In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Our Lady, Queen of the Prophets,
St. Joseph, our patron saints and guardian angels.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
In this year of faith that we are celebrating,
that Pope Benedict, when he was the Holy Father,
called a year ago to celebrate the year of faith, the gift of faith,
we have in today's Sunday readings
a very good example of the virtue,
the supernatural virtue of faith,
in the widow of Zarephath, who was a pagan.
And if you remember the story of Elijah,
who was the great prophet in the kingdom of Israel
at the time of Ahab, which was about 800 years before Christ,
that Israel had apostatized from the true faith
because Ahab allowed his pagan wife Jezebel
to introduce pagan worship into the kingdom of Israel.
Because of that, God struck them with a terrible drought.
For three and a half years, it didn't rain in Israel.
And our Lord even makes mention of this,
if you remember when he has a little bit of an argument
with the Pharisees, they are talking to him
about their self-righteousness, and he says,
you know, in all of Israel, when there was a time
of the great prophet Elijah, it wasn't to anybody in Israel
that our Lord, our God, sent Elijah
to dwell with, but rather he sent him
to the pagan widow of Zarephath.
And that quite insulted them, that God would,
our Lord reminded them of this event.
But the widow of Zarephath, of course, she lived in Sidon,
which is present-day Lebanon.
She exhibited more faith in the true God
than those who were the chosen people.
And the first time she exhibited that faith,
if you remember,
in the story when Elijah came to the town of Zarephath,
she was out collecting a few sticks,
and because of the drought, she was going to make
a little bread for her and her son,
the last bit of flour she had and the last bit of oil.
She was going to make the final meal they were going to have,
and they were going to starve after that.
And the prophet Elijah says to her,
before you do that, make me a little cake first
and bring it to me.
And, you know, if you had your last bit of food
and someone else came along and asked you
if you could make them something first before you,
you'd say, you go find your own.
But instead, she shows some trust in God.
She recognized in the prophet Elijah
that he might be a man of God.
And so she made an act of, she made a leap of faith.
She made an act of faith and trusted in that.
And so she made this act of faith,
trusting in divine providence
as much as she probably understood.
And it says that because of her act of faith
that the jar of flour and the jar of oil
never ran out for those three and a half years
that the prophet Elijah stayed with her
and received her hospitality.
The other act of faith is in this reading today
that she made when after staying with her for a short while,
her son,
who she lived with her only son,
fell sick and died.
And the prophet Elijah, as we hear in the story today,
said, give me your son.
She thought that, well, you know,
because she's from a pagan background,
but even the Jews had this understanding
of a rather severe God, you know,
that God would punish us.
And they had this rather not a very benevolent view of God
in many cases, although those who were true believers,
even in the Old Testament,
understood that God was a God of mercy.
But for the most part, you know,
even in the time of Moses, the people said, you know,
they were afraid when they saw God manifest his awesomeness
on top of Mount Sinai.
They said, you go up and talk to him, we'll stay down here.
And so this idea then, so the widow,
she also probably had this idea of that.
I'm being punished by God.
He's taking his son away from me.
And we know that even in the time of our Lord,
that when Lazarus died, you know,
or when the young man that was blind
was brought before our Lord, they said,
was it because of his sins or because of his parents' sins
that he was struck with blindness?
And our Lord said, no, it was neither.
It was in order for God to manifest his glory
that this man was born blind.
And then, you know, God,
he cured him.
The same can be said here that God allowed this,
this unfortunate event of her son dying
so that God could manifest his power
and the true religion of the prophet Elijah
and to confirm her faith even more
by the working of miracles.
As you know, our Lord himself said that
there were two things that God used to, to reveal him.
He used to reveal himself and to confirm his message
to his audience.
For the sake of the pagans and those who were not benefiting
of the revelation of the Old Testament prophecy
that the Jews had, they had all these prefigurements
in the Old Testament to help them to recognize the Messiah
when he came.
The pagans who didn't have that had, on the other hand,
they had miracles.
God worked miracles to show them
the supernatural character of his message.
But he also worked miracles for the Jews
because, as he could see, prophecies were not enough.
He said, if you don't believe my words,
look at the works that I do,
the blind see, the lame walk.
So in this case, even in the time of the prophet Elijah,
God allows this to happen so that the widow,
she places her faith and Elijah says, give me your son.
So he takes him up to the upper room and he,
and Elijah says, give me your son.
Heском his handでしょう Everyone,
you see, I see that there are words in the Old Testament
that the Father says to the children,
in the Old Testament, is probably perfectly normal,
and it says much more even, exactly,
that he actually lays upon the child
and puts his hands to his hands
and his mouth to the child's mouth in the form of a cross.
And he breathes, does this three times
to give this trinitarian nature to this miracle,
and the young boy comes back to life,
and the widow, seeing this great gift
that God has given to her in restoring her life,
says to the speaking anonymous Anabas,
her son, is confirmed even more in her trusting in the man of God, the prophet Elijah, who is a
type of Christ. He represents Christ in the Old Testament, and many of the works that he did
prefigure Christ. The work that he did on Mount Carmel, in winning the people back to the true
faith, is like our Lord on Mount Calvary, winning us back for God. And this miracle where he raises
this widow's son from the dead is reminding us of the work that our Lord does in the gospel today,
where he sees this widow as they're taking her son, who passed away, out to the cemetery to
bury him. He stops the funeral cortege, and he says, here, young man, I tell you, arise. And he
raises her only son to life.
Two also, because he sees this widow's son, and he says, here, young man, I tell you, arise.
You might say he sees his own mother, who was a widow, and who has an only son as well. And so
maybe he had a special compassion on this widow of name, because he saw in her a reflection of his
own mother and her situation, and because our Lord is a God of compassion. You know, this is the
thing about our Lord. When he came in the flesh, he revealed to us, you know, and the Old Testament
they had this idea of God as being this great judge, because all they had was the Ten Commandments,
which were all judgments of what is right and what is wrong. You do this, and that's a wrong thing to
do. Now, it's true that God is a judge, but when our Lord came and walked among the people, he never
exercised any kind of judgment. What did he do? He cured the sick. He restored people to life. He
made the lame walk.
He showed all these signs of compassion. As a matter of fact, when the Pharisees wanted him to act as a
judge, and they brought him the woman condemned in adultery, what did our Lord say? He said, you know,
there's no one here to condemn you. Go and sin no more. He didn't exercise that power to judge,
which he had every right to. He used that judgment, though, in a form of mercy, in that he told her,
your sin has been forgiven. Go and sin no more. But he will come again, of course, as a judge, as it
says in the Creed, he'll come again on the last day to find the exercise that justice. But our Lord, as
we know, wants us to understand that while we have life in this world, we are having an opportunity
to experience his mercy. As Saint Faustina reminds us, this is the time for mercy. Judgment
will come at the end, and we hope that we will make use of that mercy of God while we have time.
But today in the Gospel, our Lord is showing us his compassion for those who are mourning,
who are in sorrow. And that should give us great comfort to know that even when bad things happen,
God in his divine providence allows them, and even if he doesn't raise
our loved one from the dead, still he's a God of compassion. He has a reason for some reasons
far beyond ours, and that's where we have to exercise that supernatural act of faith,
that even when bad things happen to even good people, that God has a greater purpose for that.
Not because he wants to see us in sorrow, but he wants to exercise our faith, exercise our
supernatural virtues.
The faith, hope, and charity. And this is why we have to have that virtue of faith that is so
important. As Pope Benedict reminds us, faith is an entrance into a relationship. It's an entrance
into a meeting with God, and it begins a journey which ends, he says, at the resurrection on the
last day, you know, when we will finally see God face to face.
But the beginning, the doorway, the entrance is that first gift of faith that we received in
baptism. It's something that we didn't produce. Our teacher we had in seminary said that when God
gives us the gift of faith, he gives us a gift that is far greater than if we could jump over
the moon. Because with the gift of faith, we don't jump from one place to another on earth. We jump
from here to heaven. We were transported, you might say, supernaturally to another whole level of
living, of existence, supernatural. It's above nature. It's grace. And that is something that we're
able to do because God elevates us. He brings us up to his level where we're able to know God and to
know him as he is known in himself, and to love him as he is known in himself. And to love him as he is
known in himself. And to love him as he is known in himself. And to love him as he is known in himself.
As he loves himself. That's the beautiful gift of grace. And that begins with that first gift of
faith that we receive at baptism. And St. Paul in his letter writes about how he became a follower
of Christ in a very extraordinary way. He received this revelation of God, as you know, as he was
going to Damascus to persecute the church, God knocks him to the ground.
And reveals himself, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? And he said, who are you? He said, I am Jesus,
the Nazarene. You're persecuting me in persecuting my people. And of course, we know that he has his
blinded and his eyes are restored. His sight is restored when the prophet Ananias,
the holy man, comes and baptizes him. Because at that point, the scales fall off of his
eyes, because he now has the light of faith. And because he received this revelation in a very
extraordinary way, Christ himself reveals himself to him. It wasn't through any apostle that he
learned about Christ and who he is. Christ himself manifested him that faith and called him to be an
apostle. But notice that even though he has received this great gift and commissioned by
Christ, in humility, he still goes and submits himself to God. And he's not going to be a
prophet. He's not going to be a prophet. He's not going to be a prophet. He's not going to be a
to make sure that just to confirm with him that everything that he has been doing, speaking in
the name of Christ, is in accord with their apostolic preaching as well. And it's important
that we see in Paul, St. Paul, this great apostle who wasn't one of those like we all have been.
We all have been. We all have been. We all have been. We all have been. We all have been. We all
have all benefited from the gift of faith. And St. Paul, even beginning his great work for Christ,
had to begin with the gift of faith. So today, as we examine these readings and as we
meditate on what God has done for us, no matter what our vocation is, you know, God calls each
and every one of us. He calls some to religious life. He calls some to the married state.
He calls others to the single state. Whatever it is, though, that call all begins with the gift of
faith. Because in that gift is our vocation. And everybody has a mission, has been sent by God.
Some are sent in extraordinary ways, like St. Paul, to be missionaries all over the world.
Others are sent to be a husband and wife, a mother and a father of a family.
And their mission is to raise a family in the fear of God, in the love of God. Others have a
mission to be a parish priest or to be a religious. And they are all called and all given that gift,
a gift of faith. It encompasses that mission that we have been given. And if to the degree that we
respond to that, then God can work through us. We may not be able to work miracles for others like
Elijah the prophet. We may not be able to work miracles for others like Elijah the prophet. But we
may have been harm toe with those who have been a potencial unless have entering our life with
showed us a grace through in an even greater opportunity than it is in his own leaked
..
So let them do what has been given them. Those who have been given that grace at the end in
a sky that looks as though our Lord hadrotified them as their prophet or as our Lord did. He has
given that to some extraordinary salsw. Those who he has given that grace to do. But the greatest
and allow God to form us, transform us
into reflecting his image and likeness,
to love him and to love others as he loves them
and to give that witness.
That's probably the miracle of grace
that God works through us
is that testimony we will give
by our fact that we live the life of grace
that he's given us, the life of holiness.
That is what most of us are just called to do.
And that may be the miracle
that we are the beneficiary of
is the transformation of our lives
from being sinners to being saints.
And that is the great work.
Greater than God raising someone from the dead
is that he should take us,
for sinners that we are,
and make us into great saints,
reflecting grace,
giving him and his goodness to all around us.
Let us thank our Lord for the gift of faith
and all that has come with that.
Let us appreciate it.
Let us never lose it by sin
and never let us sin against the gift of faith
by listening to other voices
other than the voice of Christ
as he speaks to us through his church,
through his successors of the apostles
and through Peter,
especially the vicar of Christ,
in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.