I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread.
Read Chapter 132
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
16. "I will bless her widow with blessings, and will satisfy her poor with bread" (ver. 15). Every soul that is aware that it is bereft of all help, save of God alone, is widowed. For how doth the Apostle describe a widow? "She that is a widow indeed and desolate, trusteth in God." He was speaking of those whom we all call Widows in the Church. He saith, "She that liveth in pleasure, is dead while she liveth;" and he numbereth her not among the widows. But in describing true widows, what saith he? "She that is a widow indeed and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day." Here he addeth, "but she that liveth in pleasure, is dead while she liveth." What then makes a widow? That she hath no aid from any other source, save from God alone. They that have husbands, take pride in the protection of their husbands: widows seem desolate, and their aid is a stronger one. The whole Church therefore is one widow, whether in men or in women, in married men...
Widow. Whose name is often joined with orphans, and the poor, as the Hebrew Tsedah may imply one "desolate "1 Timothy v. 5. (Berthier)
The Greek copies vary: some have widow, and others, "prey "which is most commonly given as the sense of the Hebrew. (Haydock)
The poor priests and Levites, who had no land, shall be abundantly supplied. (Calmet)
The Church, though deprived of Christ's visible presence, is replenished with many blessings, and her humble children are relieved with the holy Sacraments. (Worthington)
