HERO OR HEEL?
[BREAKING THE BREAD OF GOD’S WORD] 32 nd Sunday OT_B November 8, 2015 HERO OR HEEL? How little things have changed from then and now. The widow of Zarephath was gathering sticks, much like the poor now gather what has come to be known almost derisively now in the Philippines as “kalakal.” I grew up at a place and time when “kalakal” did not refer to garbage. It simply meant farm produce that you brought twice a week to market to be sold wholesale to merchants who had the capital and the means of transport to sell them to the big Metro Manila market. We were not anywhere near the abject poverty of the widow, who having been married lost the support of her father, and who, having been widowed, lost the entire support from a husband. She was alone – and poor by any standard. So, too, was the widow mentioned in the gospel, who gave her all, despite her want, in spite of her need. The first widow was the object of the Lord’s largesse and compassion. The secon...