"Unless we think of others and do something for them, we miss one of the greatest sources of happiness."

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough, we must do. — Leonardo da da Vinci: (1452 – 1519: was an Italian polymath)

Gospel Text: (LK 21:1-4)

When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people

putting their offerings into the treasury

and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.

He said, “I tell you truly,

this poor widow put in more than all the rest;

for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth,

but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”

We live in a society in which values that are contrary to the Gospel are canonized. A person’s value is measured in economic terms. The poor are shunned as worthless.

God has a different set of values from those of our society. When Jesus saw the wealthy putting large amounts of money into the collection box of the Temple, he was not impressed. It was not as if the wealthy should not have given large sums, but Jesus was looking for something else. He saw that something else in the poor widow who donated only two small coins. He explains to us what He saw: “[The wealthy] have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”

It was the generosity of the widow that mattered, not the amount she gave. We are called to be generous people, unselfish in all our relationships with others. God does not value us for giving our money; or, for that matter, for giving our time and talent. God values us for the generosity from which our giving flows. And generosity flows from the love that we receive in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.