November 27, 2017

Gospel: Lk 21:1-4
Jesus looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury of the temple. He also saw a poor widow, who dropped in two small coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow put in more than all of them. For all of them gave an offering from their plenty; but she, out of her poverty, gave all she had to live on.“

REFLECTION:
Robert Louis Stevenson said that “you can give without loving but you cannot love without giving.“ Often times, we are influenced by the criterion: the bigger or higher the amount of the gift, the better. And we forget that what counts in giving is not the gift but the giver; it‘s not the gift in itself but the thoughts and intentions that go with it. In fact, what counts most is the love that accompanies the gift for we can give without loving.
And this is what the gospel is telling us. Jesus‘ criteria are different from us. He qualifies our giving not by amount, but by the quota of sacrifice, love and commitment of life that presupposes.
The poor widow gave more than everybody else because her two coins represented a part of her life and security. In giving them away she was expressing her faith in trust that God was her whole security and only pledge of her life.