TODAY'S WORD
By
Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore
Luke 21: 4
For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
REFLECTION
The Gospel of the Day demonstrates the powerful message of True Giving, through the incident of the Offering of the Poor Widow. There are many times in our life, when we think or do little things and we would feel them as insignificant.
But the Lord sees deeper…
A tiny word of thanks and appreciation…The Lord sees our goodness.
A small gesture of timely help and assistance… The Lord sees our nobility.
A genuine smile of encouragement and support… The Lord sees our benevolence.
The palace of goodness is built by the tiny bricks of genuine actions and loving thoughts.
And the Lord sees it all – “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good” (Prov. 15:3)
He doesn’t miss a single gift, small or large.
What difference did her two coins make toward meeting the temple budget?
Probably nothing!!
Perhaps the treasurer muttered under his breath as he saw it being dropped:
“Why do people throw such small coins into the treasury? They’re more a nuisance to count than they’re worth!”
She gave it all, not for any praise or to show-off, but out of love of God and her religion.
As Blessed Mother Teresa would say:
“Give, but give until it hurts…
… It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving”
The Lord has given everything for us.
QUESTIONS TO PONDER
What is our attitude in “giving” to God?
Do we give it cheerfully?
Very Often dont we give only “leftovers” to God?
Do we have the joy and the generosity to give ourselves, to the Lord and for His works?
SAINT OF THE DAY
ST. JOHN BERCHMANS
May the words of St John Berchmans, a young saint of just 22 years, the Patron Saint of Altar Servers, inspire us: “Our true worth does not consist in what human beings think of us. What we really are consists in what God knows us to be.”