The Royal Priesthood of Christ

"The Lord keeps faith forever,

secures justice for the oppressed,

gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets captives free."

At first glance, the first reading and the Gospel reading for this Sunday do not reflect the sentiment expressed in the passage from the Responsorial Psalm that accompanies them. The first reading for today's Mass depicts a widow in Zeraphath who is suffering from the severe famine on the land. The woman has only enough materials to make one more meal for herself and her son. Once this food is exhausted, they will not have any other way of obtaining food, and thus they will die like many others did in the famine. Yet the prophet Elijah, a foreigner, comes to her asking for food. Is this not unjust? How could the prophet of God ask for food in the midst of famine, realizing she is a widow with a son and no means to support themselves? Nevertheless, the widow readily provides the prophet with food.

The same thought might occur to us as we read today's Gospel where Jesus praises the widow who gives all she has to the Temple treasury. Surely the Temple treasury has no need of such an insignificant amount. What is more, it is the Temple and the entire institution of Judaism that ought to be supporting the widow in her need. Jesus, in fact, condemns the entire system for their mistreatment of widows and orphans just before we encounter the widow in the Temple. How, then, can she be praised for her offering? Yet, the widow makes her humble offering without complaint.

The answer lies in our second reading for this Sunday. Paul continues to reflect upon the priesthood of Jesus Christ, an office to which every follower of Jesus enters at baptism. A priest is commissioned to offer sacrifice, adn the Christian priesthood imitates the priesthood of Christ, who offered himself for the entire human race. Our priesthood, then, is to offer ourselves for others as Jesus did. As Pope John Paul II reminds us in a sermon he gave on these readings, "Our humble offering may be insignificant in itself, like the oil of the widow of Zarapheth or the coins of the poor widow in the Temple. Yet our offering becomes pleasing in the eyes of God thanks to our union with Jesus" (John Paul II, Homily in Barcelona, November 7, 1982).

Everyday life provides us with endless opportunities to exercise our common priesthood of offering ourselves for others. I remember teaching religion to sixth graders at a Catholic school in Plano, TX years ago. Kids often invite many people to their home for the celebration of their birthday, expecting and receiving presents aplenty. One year there was a student in my class who was turning twelve and he invited every0ne in the class to his party. However, he placed a condition on all those who attended: Do not bring a present for me, but instead bring the amount you would have spent on a present for me and give it to our church's sister parish in Honduras. That one selfless act taught us all a great deal about our faith that year, for in that moment he exercised his royal priesthood and offered himself for others.

The point of the readings for today is to focus our attention on what is really important. There are a great many injustices in the world regardless of what time in history we may be living. No doubt we have an obligation to stand against injustice at every turn, but the Gospel is not meant to pit one class against another, one race against another, one gender against another. The heroes of our readings today are two women of different ethnicity and time period. They did not wallow in self pity or engage in class warfare. They remembered the needs of others before their own needs. These women loved their neighbor as themselves. They were participating in the priesthood of Christ and offered themselves for others.

May our lives imitate their lives and the life of Christ, and may our prayer ever be today's opening prayer: "Almighty Father, strong is your justice and great is your mercy. Protect us in the burdens and challenges of life. Shield our minds from the distortion of pride and enfold our desire with the beauty of truth. Help us to become more aware of your loving design so that we may more willingly give our lives in service to all."