By faith...

 The word of God

But after a while the torrent remained dry, because the rain no longer fell on the land. A word from God was then addressed to him: "Arise, go and settle in Sarepta, in the region of Sidon. I ordered a virgin over there to feed you."

So he got up and went to Sarepta. When he arrive at the city gate, a widow was there collecting firewood. He call her and said: "would you like to get me some water in this jug for me to drink. As she was about to take some, he called her and said: "would you like to bring me a piece of bread too."

She replied: "As true as Yahweh your God is alive, I have nothing cooked, I only have a little flour in a pot and a little oil in a jug. I am going to collect two pieces of wood and bring it home prepared for me and for my son. We will eat it and then it will be death."

Elijah said to him: "don't be afraid, come back and do what you said; just make me a little pancake first and bring it to me, then make one for yourself and for your son. For this is what Yahweh God of Israel says: "the flour in the pot will not run out, the oil in the jug will not run out until the day where Yahweh causes rain to fall on the earth".

1 Kings 17, 7-14. The People's Bible

The intercession of the Holy Spirit

The whole universe belong to God. He created everything by his word. If God does not want it to rain, the rain will not fall. If there is therefore no water in an area whose main activity is agriculture, starvation will reign. So then, the rain is a grace. When we asked ourselves how a person can give everything to another in a critical time we realized that, if it is not by the faith and above all by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, the human being who is in essence selfish, cannot be charitable. By ourselves, we can only refuse, insult and lie. But by faith we can sympathize, give, forget, forgive and surrender everything into the hands of God.

True charity

It is the Lord who sends His messenger to this mother to whom He "gave orders". As if to say that He is "at the hearth of our lives". He knows what we need; He gives us the ability to do His will, to see His wonders in our lives so that the little faith we have increases. The Lord always want to help us but He need the "little" flour and the "little" oil that we have. He who does not give his life to God or who does not put his situation in the hands of God will not be saved by Him. We live in a world that thinks with its belly. We don't think is bad. We have the right to claim what is rightfully ours by thinking of ourselves. What is bad is our insensitivity to the sufferings of others.  When the personal interest takes precedence over the suffering of others it becomes detestable. When we have the capacity to help others and we refuse to do so on the pretext that what happens to them does not concern us, we are selfish. Each individual must feel concerned by the difficulties encountered in his living environment by contributing to the extent of his means and not hide behind the proverb that good charity begins with oneself to veil their hypocrisy and selfishness. If I have to think of myself first before thinking of others, it is because by thinking first of others before thinking of myself, I am also thinking of myself before thinking of others. When our own charity is limited only to our level under the fallacious pretext of common sense, it is no longer charity. It is hypocrisy. This woman's story shows us that depending on the circumstances and the particular mission the Lord has for us, we can, with the help of His Holy Spirit, prioritize relieving the pain of others before our own. The life of faith is a total abandonment to the will of a God whose omnipotence constantly asks the intelligence of Men to trust Him. 

See Christ through the suffering of others

Looking and listening to her interlocutor, that woman has seen the Christ. She could not remain indifferent to his request because she herself, has Christ in her. The image of Christ she sees in her neighbour requires more urgent assistance than her and her son. Even if she knows that by giving all that she has left to this gentleman she and her son will die, she gives all that she has left and relies on the will of God. She knows she will die in peace because what she did, she did for the Lord. And she right to think so because the flour and the oil that do not end just like water and piece of bread requested by the man of God represent eternal life that the Lord promises to His children who will never be orphans or widows in His eyes because He will always be there to take care of them.