"Let me go and glean ears of grain..." (Ruth 2 ,2)

The Deuteronomic Code (1) demanded that Jews not harvest the corners of the field so that the poor might "glean" what they found there in order to eat and provide for their families.  Some rabbis even suggested that farmers should not go over a field twice in order that the poor might harvest what they did not plant and thus preserve their dignity. The Deuteronomic Code was a kind of "safety net" in the Old Testament, a system that provided for the poor without forcing them to beg.  Never forgetting their exile in Egypt, Jews were commanded to remember the poor and provide for them. 

In today's reading Ruth, who has no stature when she returns with Naomi to Bethlehem, suggests that she might go into the fields and "glean" something so that she and Naomi might eat. This act of humility leads her to Boaz who tells her not to glean in any other field, that she can always come to his fields to provide for herself and Naomi.  Of course, Boaz has purchased the field where Ruth is "gleaning" because he wants to marry her.  Ruth's humility leads to a marriage she could never have imagined, and with the birth of her son Obed who becomes the  father of Jesse, who becomes the  father of David, she enters the line that leads to the birth of Jesus.

Ruth's humility startles us.  Willing to abandon her chances for marriage in her own land to accompany Naomi to Bethlehem, she is willing to live a simple life of gleaning, of living off the charity of others.  Her relationship with Naomi is so important to her that she sacrifices everything in order to be faithful not only to Naomi but to Naomi's God.

Can we trust God, especially at a time when the Catholic church is under such a cloud from the scandal of sexual abuse all over the world?  Do we have the strength not to claim an authority or power that is not ours, and go to the "corners of the fields" where God continues to allow us to "glean"  what we need to stay alive in our faith tradition?  Can we commit ourselves to quiet and humility as we wait for God to show us the next steps as a people and a church?