<div class=oldwebkit><div class=mobile-full><div class=oldwebkit><div class=mobile-full><p class=Paragraph SCXW3067354 BCX0><span style=color: #ffffff;><em><em>-</em></em></span></p><p class=Paragraph SCXW3067354 BCX0><span style=color: #000000;><em>Breath of the Spirit is our electronic spiritual and liturgical resource for our members and potential members. Nothing can replace your chapter or other faith community but we hope you will find further support here for integrating your spirituality with your sexuality and all the strands of your life.&nbsp;</em><em><a href=https://www.dignityusa.org/civicrm/mailing/subscribe><span style=color: #000000;>Get Breath of the Spirit scripture reflections in your inbox every week</span></a>.</em></span></p><p class=Paragraph SCXW3067354 BCX0><span style=color: #ffffff;><em>-</em></span></p><p><span style=color: #000000;><em>&nbsp;</em></span></p></div></div><div class=oldwebkit><div class=oldwebkit></div></div></div></div><div class=oldwebkit><span style=color: #000000;>&nbsp;</span></div><div class=oldwebkit><p><span style=color: #000000;>Our faith calls us to be generous but true generosity requires faith. How else can one summon the courage to give from their need? How else can we give of food we had hoped to eat or money we had intended to use for our livelihood as the widows in this Sundays Scriptures? How else indeed? The powerful stories of these faithful courageous and generous women challenge those of us who live in relative comfort or even more than that to interrogate our own level of giving. What does my generosity say about my faith? My need to grow in trust and perhaps also in empathy for those who have so much less?</span></p></div><div class=oldwebkit><span style=color: #000000;>&nbsp;</span></div><div class=oldwebkit><p><span style=color: #000000;><strong>November 7 2021:&nbsp;The Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time&nbsp;</strong><strong>Cycle B&nbsp;</strong></span><br><span style=color: #000000;>1Kings 17:10-16&nbsp;</span><br><span style=color: #000000;>Psalm&nbsp;146:7 8-9 9-10&nbsp;</span><br><span style=color: #000000;>Hebrews 9:24-28&nbsp;</span><br><span style=color: #000000;>Mark 12:38-44&nbsp;</span></p><p><br><span style=color: #000000;>A reflection by Richard Young&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style=color: #000000;>If youve ever known poverty you know of a kind of fear that never seems to completely leave you the fear that there wont be enough. There are folks who grew up poor but became as adults financially well-off maybe even wealthy and they still clip coupons turn down the thermostat and wear clothes until they are not only ridiculously out of style but also so thread-bare that the Salvation Army wouldnt touch them. Perhaps you have known such people. For some of us they were our parents or grandparents who grew up during the Great Depression and whose defenses against poverty&nbsp;were never let down for a moment. I grew up poor so I personally know that fear the fear that there wont be enough. Those who know me well can tell you how frugal I can be. A former treasurer at my monastery who enjoyed an occasional laugh at my expense once told me Richard you have the perfect qualifications to be treasurer:&nbsp;youre cheap and honest. We may enjoy poking fun at the cheapskates of the world but the fact is poverty can traumatize a person and leave that person full of irrational fear and mistrust.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style=color: #000000;>In light of&nbsp;this dynamic&nbsp;the two poor widows in todays readings can be seen as women of outstanding faith and true heroic generosity.&nbsp; Fears such as those that come from living in poverty are overcome by facing them and acting&nbsp;in spite of&nbsp;the potential consequences.&nbsp; To do so requires faith belief that God has as priest-poet John Shea put it spread a net beneath this high-wire act of ours.&nbsp; To be truly generous means to give with one eye on the Almighty to make sure we dont fall.&nbsp;</span><br><span style=color: #000000;>&nbsp;</span><br><span style=color: #000000;>But talking about widows&nbsp;hardly has the effect on us it once had.&nbsp; In a time when women seemed to have no identity without a husband&nbsp;the mere mention that a lady in ones neighborhood recently became a widow evoked strong feelings of compassion. Neighbors would think not only of how painful the grieving must be but also about how there would be no practical and sensible man to take care of her to help her and the children to live within the financial constraints of her new social status to fix what breaks down to discipline wayward sons and daughters to be a firm calm presence in a crisis. Those were the cultural stereotypes we held on to in the fifties and earlier images that were reinforced by TV and the movies. We once thought of widows that way as helpless dependents but not so much anymore. A lady with whom I once worked was a widow and she hardly fit that description. She was intelligent capable resourceful and assertive and she was a skillful and responsible parent to her two small children. She was truly a modern woman&nbsp;who knew there would be enough because of her faith in herself if not also in God.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style=color: #000000;>This kind of woman was apparently quite rare in biblical times. Most widows had every reason to worry about not having enough. There were no social services that could ease her burden. She was a second-class human being just for being a woman; third-class for being a widow. Add to all this the fact that for the widow in our first reading there was a famine going on and she had resigned herself to the idea that death was imminent both for herself and her son. Then comes a prophet with a promise: the famine would end soon and the jar of flour shall not go&nbsp;empty&nbsp;nor&nbsp;the jug of oil run dry. She invested in the promise by feeding the prophet herself and her son.&nbsp; She used up all that was left and believed. That is faith. That is remarkable courage and generosity.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style=color: #000000;>The widow in the gospel also acted&nbsp;despite her&nbsp;fear of not having enough. Marks Jesus said she gave all that she had to live on. That too was an unselfish investment in Gods promise. Jesus also warns about the scribes a first-century version of some TV evangelists and other clerics who dont have to worry about not having enough yet want even more and who like to parade around in their robes and accept marks of respect in public front seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets and who devour the savings of widows and recite long prayers for appearance sake. Widows had to be careful as we all do lest their investment of charity be made in some hucksters promise and not in Gods.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style=color: #000000;>The Good News is that there will always be&nbsp;enough if&nbsp;the investment is in God.&nbsp; The poor seem to have no choice but to believe that. Professional fundraisers for charitable organizations will tell you that those most likely to contribute are the poor and that the wealthier the giver the smaller the percentage of income goes to charity. Jesus must have known that.&nbsp; Thats why the gospels are so full of warnings about getting too financially comfortable.&nbsp; Ironically the more secure you are the more you&nbsp;seem to&nbsp;lack the faith to know that there will be enough.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style=color: #000000;>The words of an old song come to mind. Its about a man dying of thirst in the desert. He comes upon a jar of water next to a pump. There is a note attached to the jar telling him not to drink the water in the jar and that all the water he could want is in the well but he must use the water in the jar to prime the pump. Of course the man is afraid to use the water that way. What if there really isnt water in the well?&nbsp; He is asked to put aside his fear.&nbsp; The note&nbsp;says&nbsp;</span></p><p><span style=color: #000000;><em>Youve got to prime the pump.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</em></span><br><span style=color: #000000;><em>You must have faith and believe.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</em></span><br><span style=color: #000000;><em>Youve got to give of yourself before youre ready to receive.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</em></span><br><span style=color: #000000;><em>Drink all the water you can hold.&nbsp; Wash your hands.&nbsp; Cool your feet.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</em></span><br><span style=color: #000000;><em>Save the bottle for all others.&nbsp; Thank you kindly!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</em></span><br><span style=color: #000000;><em>Desert Pete.&nbsp;&nbsp;</em>&nbsp;</span><br><span style=color: #000000;>&nbsp;</span><br><span style=color: #000000;>Listen to the Kingston Trios version of the song&nbsp;<span style=color: #333399;><a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FKjt54pDqI><span style=color: #333399;>here</span></a></span>.&nbsp;</span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p></div><div class=oldwebkit><span style=color: #000000;>&nbsp;</span></div><div class=oldwebkit><div class=mobile-full><span style=color: #000000;><img class=mobile-full src=https://www.dignityusa.org/sites/default/files/civicrm/persist/contribute/images/uploads/static/botsrichardyoung_1_25fb387dab4049bd1330c9089d3c2d56.png alt= width=120 hspace=0 vspace=0></span></div><div class=mobile-full><p><span style=color: #000000;><strong>Rev. Richard P. Young&nbsp;</strong>is a retired Catholic priest and mental health counselor. He co-chairs the Social Justice Committee of Dignity/Daytons Living Beatitudes Community and has worked with several Dignity chapters since the late 70s.</span></p><p><span style=color: #000000;>He once served for a term on the national board of DignityUSA and has attended all the national conventions/conferences since 1981. He is married to DignityUSAs national secretary Bob Butts.</span></p></div></div><div class=oldwebkit><span style=color: #000000;>&nbsp;</span></div><div class=oldwebkit><div class=mobile-full></div></div><p><span style=color: #000000;><img src=https://www.dignityusa.org/civicrm/mailing/open?qid= alt= width=1 height=1></span></p><p></p>