Poor widow’s offering

November 24, 2014
Monday, 34th Week in
 Ordinary Time
ST. ANDREW DUNG-LAC and companions
 1st Reading: Rv 14:1-3,4b-5
 Gospel: Lk 21:1–4
Jesus looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasure box; he also saw a poor widow dropping in two small coins.
And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow put in more than all of them. For all gave an offering from their plenty, but she, out of her poverty, gave all she had to live on.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Man counts by numbers while God accounts by proportion. Thus it can happen that what is plenty by human calculation is scarce by God’s estimation, and what is scarce by human estimation is abundant by God’s calculation. This is what today’s Gospel is all about.
To human observers, it may appear that those rich people dropping sizable amount to the treasury box in today’s Gospel reading gave so much. But that’s because human beings count by the amount. If we talk of proportion, what they have dropped in that donation box was nothing in proportion to the blessings they have received from above. If we go by Biblical standards, Leviticus 27:31 mandates a ten percent share of one’s income for God. The money they were dropping was not even in accordance with this biblical standard.
While these rich people were ostentatious a poor widow was so anxious. She did not want anybody to find out how much she was giving because she only gave a few coins. But that was all she had. To human observers who account by the amount, that was so little a donation to count.  But in proportion to what she had received
in life, she was close to giving everything back to God. Jesus confirmed this when he said: “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow put in more than all of them. For all gave an offering from their plenty, but she, out of her poverty, gave all she had to live on.”
It could even have been an act of injustice to herself because in
giving away all she had she failed to reserve some provisions for her
sustenance in the coming days. But she didn’t worry about herself
anymore because she knew that the God who owned everything that she
possessed is not outdone in generosity.
Today’s Gospel is a grace-filled occasion to think about the great season of giving which escalates with the coming of Christmas. This season may be frustrating in that even if we have depleted our resources in gift-giving, recipients remain unresponsive because they are not impressed by the price of the gift received. That is because humans account by the amount. This Christmas, avoid the disappointment. Give gifts for love of God. Any act of giving we do, including those that appear insignificant to our recipients will win God’s favor. This is because God does not account by the amount but by the beating of our hearts.  – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:[email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
PRAYER FOR THE DAY: God our Father, as we look forward to the season of Advent may we celebrate your gifts by being generous and so merit the abundance of eternal life, through Christ our Lord. Amen
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