Monday 26h November
Luke 21:1-4
What a welcome contrast the poor widow is to the Pharisees, about whom Jesus had been speaking! While they liked to be recognized for their good deeds, Jesus noticed this poor and humble woman depositing two copper coins in the temple treasury. The widow’s generosity sprang from love as she gave away all she had to live on (v. 4). Although we do not know her name, she is the patron saint of generous giving.
Giving to others is always an issue of the heart. In the wise words of St John Chrysostom: ‘For what use is it when you give as much of your wealth as someone might give a spoonful of water from the ocean, and you don’t imitate the widow’s generosity of spirit?’ Today, the witness of the widow echoes down to us through the centuries.
What are we to learn? What does the widow say to us? Her example, first and foremost, invites us to examine our lives. The art of self-examination – a lost art, indeed – is an essential one in living the Christian life. What is your attitude to money? Are you generous, kind and giving, or do you have a mean and miserly spirit?
John Wesley was on the right track when he said: ‘Make all you can, save all you can and give all you can.’ We must be generous, but we must also be prudent and responsible with money and wealth. Striking the right balance is a difficult challenge.
An important part of this challenge is to allow financial decisions to be informed by our conscience. As citizens of the state we have a duty to give generously and to remember the poor and disadvantaged. As citizens of the kingdom we have more than a duty to be kind and generous to the poor: it is our vocation. We are united to them through the bond of faith; they are our brothers and sisters, and to serve them is to serve Christ. We show our solidarity with the poor when we give from a generous heart and become imitators of God. God is kind and generous towards us, and so we in turn are called to be kind and generous to others.
‘Lord Jesus, teach me to be rich not in what I have but in what I give. Grant me the grace to spend myself in love and service of you and love and service of others.’
Daniel 1:1-6, 8-20 • Daniel 3:52-56 • Luke 21:1-4
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