CHOOSING “GIFT”

Let us focus our attention on the first reading of this Sunday. First of all, why was this passage chosen? Because it speaks to us of gift, of sharing and therefore of hope. Elijah, in Zarephath, welcomed by a widow, receives food as a gift; the widowed woman sees Elijah as a gift (he is a prophet). Both are spectators of a miraculous gift: flour and oil that are not consumed. We will use this key to enter the story. And we will do so because, today more than ever, we need to recover the meaning of gift (what it means to give); we also need to learn to give better and more (the measure of giving) and—last but not least—we need to grow in the capacity for gratitude (for the gifts received), because life is beautiful when we give ourselves and give thanks. If we observe the two protagonists in this story we understand an important thing: the gift is implemented only where one has decided to give. Elijah, cornered, decides to ask for help and he does so from a woman, and a pagan one at that; the woman decides to welcome a stranger, of another faith and makes the choice to donate the little she has. But what does it mean to decide? «Deciding» comes from the Latin de-cedere, which means, to cut away. The decision therefore implies a cut. But from what? From oneself, as the only criterion for choice. We can also talk about cutting the self. A person who decides is therefore a person who radically cuts: cuts away the claim that makes the self the principle of self-determination, regardless of others, (life as a self-project – I made myself with my own hands). No, those who decide to give make the other the factor of self-edification (life as an opening to what is outside – I made myself—thanks to the hands of others). So life, more than being a self-project, is an exodus from oneself. Living is going out of oneself, from one’s own dimension towards the new, where one receives oneself, thanks to the other.
According to our story, the gift is caused by lack. The story tells of a famine due to drought. The famine makes everyone poorer and therefore more supportive. The gift therefore fills the lack. Alone? No, the gift brings the distant closer: Elijah meets the widow and the woman meets the prophet. Distant in what sense? Elijah is sent by God to a woman from Zarephath, therefore to a foreigner who professed faith in Baal (whom he fought). Could it be worse? This involves a risk: if those of Sarepta had understood that the drought and therefore the famine were due to him, what would they have done to him? At the very least, they would have killed him. Going out therefore involves a risk. But one goes out only if called by God and according to a promise.
There is a force from above (faith). And so it is for us: the exodus towards the other (seeking the gift) involves a periculum: will he welcome me or reject me? The other, in any case, is a foreign land (who can know a person completely?). The other is always other: by culture, by mentality, by faith. What more can we say: that one cannot move towards the other (decide for the gift) by asking too many guarantees and securities. There is a periculum, a danger, as we have said, a risk to run. Each one has to choose.

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves,
Prinknash Abbey