Homily for Tuesday, 10th Week of Ordinary Time

Homily for Tuesday
10th Week of Ordinary Time

June 7, 2022
1 Kings 17: 7-16
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, New Rochelle

“I have designated a widow there to provide for you” (1 Kings 17: 9).

Elijah & the widow of Zarephath (Jan Pynas)

We missed the beginning of Elijah’s story yesterday if we used the proper readings for the memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church.  Elijah’s narrative doesn’t tell us why he went into exile east of the Jordan and now moves far westward to Phoenicia, beyond the reach of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.

What we are told is that in a time of extended drought and famine God provides for Elijah both in the eastern wilderness and at Zarephath, in the 1st case by the ministry of ravens and in the latter case by the trusting generosity of a widow.

In the last 3 months we’ve been hearing a lot about how many poor people, especially in Africa, are going to suffer hunger because the wheat and other foodstuffs on which they depend have been cut off by the war in Ukraine.  Even before that disaster, tens of thousands have been starving in Yemen because of civil war there, and millions have been endangered by persistent drought in the Horn of Africa, exacerbated also by war.

These hungry thousands and millions don’t have a poor widow or a Hebrew prophet to rescue them from hunger.  Whom has the Lord designated for them?  The U.N. makes some feeble efforts to send relief, and I think Catholic Relief Services are trying to help in Africa; but too often that’s blocked by war and political opposition.  Pope Francis has denounced the use of food as a weapon in Ukraine, accusing the Russians (without naming them) of using food exports to try to extort sanctions relief.

Is the Lord designating us to provide for the starving?  Of course, we can’t do anything to get wheat out of Ukraine or to relieve the hungry in the Horn of Africa—except to be aware and to pray.  This our act of trust in God, as the widow trusted when she welcomed Elijah.  We trust that there’s power in prayer.

We can, further, sometimes help relieve hunger closer to home, where hard economic times are compelling so many to turn to food pantries, and those pantries are often lacking because of supply chain problems for the grocery stores that donate to them and the inflationary cost of food.  Perhaps we have opportunities to help those pantries from the relative abundance in our own pantries or in our finances—and thus to let the light of our faith shine before others (cf. Matt 5:16).