Gregory Ramkisoon, a writer in Trinidad, said, “Charity consists not so much on how much we give to the person but on how much we keep for ourselves.” Though the Old Testament valued ‘wealth’ as a sign of God’s blessing and wealthy people are signs of God’s presence on earth, ‘giving or sharing the wealth’ seem to be one of the main requirements of following Jesus. The rich young man was given the same command. ‘Giving and sharing’ could be difficult because we never experienced the joy and peace in watching others happy. We experience a great joy in watching others help others; there is a greater joy in giving than in receiving. Today’s gospel is an incident that happened in JRS temple. In the court of Women, a separate place where women could worship, this poor widow was seen giving all she had to the temple treasury. This widow’s offering was a lesson to all people that God cares for us. Man does not live on bread alone. Money is not a master but a slave. She lived on the riches of God. We all learn the joy of giving in Jesus since he taught us how to give till the end. There was nothing in this world that he could not give. He gave his honour, status, and became man. He gave love, care, compassion, peace and food to the people around him. He shared his humanness with the people. Jesus’ greatest moment in giving everything to us is what we witness in the Eucharist. He offers his body and blood as sacrifice for our sins.
All have the capacity to give. Even the smallest gift, when given with big heart bears the divine quality. A widow is chosen to be our model in teaching this great lesson: the art of giving. If Jesus had to choose me to teach a lesson to others today, what would that lesson be? What is one thing that I feel I cannot share or give up? Why?
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