“THE jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.” 1 Kings 17:14
These words from Prophet Elijah to the poor widow of Zerephath are so meaningful. They are words of fulfilled promise, of an answered prayer, and of God’s providence and mercy.
The story of the poor widow is that while she was gathering sticks one day during a time of drought to prepare a meal for her son, Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink.” She left to get it, and once more Elijah called out after her, “Please bring along a bit of bread.” Then she answered, “I have nothing baked, there is only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug. Just now I was collecting a couple of sticks, to go in and prepare something for myself and my son; when we have eaten it, we shall die. “Do not be afraid,” Elijah told her. “Go and do as you propose. But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. For the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” The poor widow was able to eat for a year, and he and her son as well.
This story strikes me because a similar promise came through to me this year after I was diagnosed with an unruptured cerebral aneurysm. Many people prayed for me, including people that I do not even know. And many kept assuring me that God will help me through this illness because he still has a mission for me. They spoke to me like Prophet Elijah. Six months after my medical procedure to treat my illness, my doctor declared that I am completely healed.
Indeed, we need to pray and implore God for his mercy and compassion in time of need and despair. And we should never be embarrassed to ask people to pray for us. For if we claim ourselves to be believers of the almighty power of God who can spare us from any ailment or catastrophe, God will answer our prayers.
Perhaps, other people like atheists do not believe in our claim. Perhaps, they believe that any recovery from illness is a mere result of science. But for us who have faith in God, we believe that God uses science to answer our prayers and to take care of our needs.
We also believe that God’s promise is shown in other ways. He may not answer our prayers as we wish, but he sends other graces that are good and appropriate to us, and perhaps even better than the things we want. As our Father, God knows what is best for us.
I know this because other manifold graces came to me through of my illness. My illness became a source of so much faith and prayerfulness. It allowed me to grow in prayer in a thousand ways that I could not imagine. It humbled me and granted me wisdom to accept the brevity of life and to navigate through the different crises of life. It made be become stronger and deeply grounded in reality and in the truth of God’s love.
Absolutely, “the jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry.” God’s generosity cannot be outdone. He merely wants us to entrust our lives to him.
We’ll also have to be like the poor widow in the Gospel this Sunday who gave all that she had to contribute money to the treasury—all two small coins that she had from her poverty and her whole livelihood. What we need is to trust that the Almighty God will save us from all fears and transform our crises into relevant graces that would bring joy and meaning into our lives.
May we have the poverty of spirit to entrust our lives to God and to believe in his providential care! Amen.
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From a Filipino immigrant family, Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas was ordained to the priesthood from St. John’s Seminary in 1991. He served as Associate Pastor at St. Augustine, Culver City (1991-1993); St. Martha, Valinda (1993-1999); and St. Joseph the Worker, Canoga Park (1999-2001). In 2001, he served as Administrator Pro Tem of St. John Neumann in Santa Maria, CA, until his appointment as pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Los Angeles, in 2002, which lasted 12 years. His term as Associate Director of Pastoral Field Education at St. John’s Seminary began in July 2014.
