Sunday Reflections

I am writing this reflection on the day after the American elections. Donald Trump will be the 47^th President of the United States. Admittedly, voting for either candidate was a difficult decision. On one hand, there was a candidate who was a racist, possibly fascist, convicted criminal, a friend of dictators, anti-abortionist — at least on paper — and probably someone you would not want to invite to dinner. On the other hand, there was a candidate who, at times, appeared weak, perhaps smiled too much, supported women’s rights including abortion, and was someone you would invite to dinner. There was no perfect candidate. In the end, it was a question of choosing the lesser of two evils.  As it turned out, the economy, immigration, healthcare, and taxes topped the list of concerns for voters.  Reproductive rights were eighth on the list just after gun control and ownership.  Both campaigns were motivated by fear.  American professor and linguist, Norm Chomsky once wrote: “The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people.”  That was the script of one — if not both parties.

Contrast that with the humility and simplicity of the poor widows we encounter in this Sunday’s readings. In the first reading, we meet a widow who, in the cultural demand of hospitality, gives the last of her stored food to feed the prophet Elijah.  And in the gospel, we are presented with a poor widow who puts everything she had into the treasury.  This widow was not afraid of anything, not even of giving everything she had to live on.  Her trust was clearly in God and God alone. Given the example of these two widows, the challenge for all of us is to never let us be motivated by fear, the fear of not having enough, or of sharing our country with those who need a safe space or whatever causes us to hold back what we have. Remember that God has counted the very hair on our heads and takes care of the sparrows in the trees. The widows believed this, and so should we.