November 10th, 2024 - 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Do we give all to god or just the leftovers?
“What am I willing to give to the Lord?
The disciples witness the sacrifice of a poor widow. Without a man to provide for her, the culture in Jesus time had NO safety net to provide for widows or orphans. They simply starved or went begging.
God provides for us and challenges us to help us grow in virtuous living. That is the kind of living where we choice our own disciplinary self-imposed deeds. In the past we may have fasted or gone to extra Masses out of the threat of “going to Hell”. Today (since Vatican II) the Church asks us to act in the same way “out of love for God” – not out of a selfish desire to avoid Hell! (See the difference?)
The gift of support for the Church is often seen as charity – Today. When – support of our Parish – is an obligation to help provide the Eucharist and its continuity in our neighborhood. It is also the 1st “Precept of the Catholic Church” (from The Catechism – CCC #2041-2043).
The five precepts are:
1. Attend Mass on Weekends and Holy Days of Obligation
2. Confess your sins a least once a year (Reconciliation)
3. Receive the Eucharist at least once a year at Easter (“Easter Duty”)
4. Observe fasting and abstinence (and no food or drink one hour before Mass)
5. Christian duty to provide for the material needs of the Church (Parish tithing)
Combined with THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, – the willful avoidance of these duties are grave matters, or mortal sins! They are taught as a “minimum” requirement of Catholic obedience.
When was the last time you every heard of these duties established by Pope Pius X in his Catechism of 1905? This is the sort list that has been Church teaching (requirements) since Pope Celestine in 1439
Today, we can see how we may be reduced to “catholic light” as compared to the rigors of the faithful in past generations around the time of the Council of Trent (1545-1563)! …. And St. Pope John Paul II in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in 1992, #2041-2043.
What are we willing to give to the Lord? Feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, cloth the naked, and visit the sick and imprisoned. (Matthew 25:35-36)
May God Bless you!
Fr. Patrick Nelson, SDS
