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Word To Life
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Sunday Scripture Readings: Nov. 12, 2006
By Sharon K. Perkins
Catholic News Service
November 12, Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle B Readings:
1) 1 Kings 17:10-16
Psalms 146:7-10
2) Hebrews 9:24-28
3) Gospel: Mark 12:38-44
Gift-giving always has been a challenge for me. Besides factoring in the time and money required, I usually struggle with finding just the right gift, one that will be unique to the recipient. When I have the time, the present I most like to give is a quilted minicomforter that I make out of fabrics in the person's favorite colors or from a print that expresses his or her hobbies or interests. It's a unique gift of my own time and creativity, and years later many of the recipients -- from children to college students to adults -- tell me that they still enjoy using their quilts.
Last year my mother gave me a personal blender that I use to make on-the-run breakfast smoothies almost every day, and when I do I invariably think of her and thank her across the miles. Although I don't unwrap that blender anew each morning, I cherish it as a "gift that keeps on giving."
Today's passage from the Letter to the Hebrews emphasizes that the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary is unrepeatable and unique, in contrast with the annual bloody offerings of animals in the Jerusalem temple. "Once for all," Jesus' offering took away the "sins of many." Yet, the term "sacrifice" is often applied to the Eucharist, much to the objection and confusion of Christians who criticize Catholics for offering Jesus repeatedly, as if Calvary were somehow not enough.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, in Paragraphs 1365-1368, is very clear on this issue. Catholic teaching affirms the uniqueness of the sacrifice at Calvary, but because Jesus' self-offering is "made present" and is visibly extended to believers through the Eucharist and because the church as Christ's body is offering itself in union with Christ, the Eucharist can indeed be called a "sacrifice in an unbloody manner" -- the Lord offering himself, both once for all and continuously throughout time for each individual.
The poor but generous widow of Zarephath sacrificed all she had so that the prophet Elijah could eat -- resulting in an endless supply of flour and oil. Likewise Jesus, made eucharistically present in you and me, is the "gift that keeps on giving" as we bring him to the world in generous and ceaseless offering.
QUESTIONS:
In recent days how have you offered yourself, sacrificially, for another? Who has made loving self-offerings to you?
SCRIPTURE TO ILLUSTRATE:
"But now he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sins once for all by his sacrifice" (Hebrews 9:26b).
END
Copyright © 2006 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS Word To Life column may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.
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