Saturday of the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time
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June 6, 2020Can you imagine how the people with Jesus were feeling when he told them that the widow that gave her two last coins, gave more than all the others? We often measure by amounts.
Jesus does not measure by amounts. He measures by the willingness of giving of our self.
As Jesus points out, the others gave out of their surplus, but the widow gave all she had left. This means she had to go without. She had to give up some food until she got money again, and as a widow, it was hard to get money if you had no one to take care of you.
She might have received a few coins for doing some sewing or cleaning for someone. Otherwise, she had no income, and yet she gives her last two coins. This is what Jesus wants from us. He wants us to give so it hurts, this is the sacrifice.
When we give out of our surplus, it is useful and helpful but not a sacrifice. When we give when it hurts, it is a sacrifice. The widow became a gift, by giving all she had left, she was willing to go without for the sake of others, and for the sake of God in the Temple offering.
Are we willing to give of our self? To give our time, to others when we want our own time and our free time? To give our money to others no matter who they are, when they are in need, without judgment, and to give up some food we were to buy?
To give our devotion, our time in prayer instead of the other things we like such as the phone, computer, Facebook, youtube, other entertainments, to spend time in prayer?
Let us give ourselves as an offering as the widow did, and therefore be united to Jesus who gave all of Himself for us.