Like the widow, we have to try and do our very best and give God our very best...

Homily for Mark 12: 38-44 Thirty Second Sunday

Jesus over and over again tells us that before anything else we must first love God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength; and then our neighbor as ourselves. Our Gospel today gives us an example of what Jesus means. Today we hear the well-known story of Jesus sitting by the treasury in the Temple as the poor widow places her two copper coins in the treasury. The account is a contrast to what Jesus had seen happen just before this loving act; He observed the prideful behavior of the scribes who neglected justice and used religion has an excuse for self-righteousness.
Jesus observes many very wealthy people giving large sums of money to the temple out of their surplus and then he sees a poor woman putting in two small coins worth next to nothing. The money in the treasury was for the maintenance of the Temple itself, which was the church of the day, as well as for the support of the poor. This woman gives a little, yet, this was all she had. She gave, not out of her surplus, but out of her need. However even more, this her offering, is a manifestation of a much deeper offering.
Before you think that this act of the poor widow is just a story, I want to tell you of a story of a beautiful Church in Iowa. This Church is in the middle of pig farms, out, really, in the middle of nowhere. The Church is named Sts Peter and Paul and is in a little town West of Dubuque, Ia called Petersburg. The Church is just stunning, with the most beautiful high altar you ever seen. As well as just beautiful statuary. I couple of years ago I took a couple priest friends of mine to visit this incredible Church. To our delight there was a retire hog farmer who was about to close up the church; he offered to give us a little tour. After the tour, he said to us, "wait until you see this." He went back into the sacristy and showed us two vestments made of solid Gold material.
I couldn't believe it, this type of beauty and this type of sacrifice for the worship and glory of God in this little town in Iowa. The farmer then went on to tell us that in order to build this incredible Church, so grand for the glory of God, every single farmer in the parish mortgaged his farm to raise the money. What a sacrifice to build such a magnificent structure to house the Tabernacle, the presence of God in our midst, and where in to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Here is an example of great faith, trust and love of God. And I might add, love of neighbor. For how many, after these original farmers were dead, were brought to a deeper reverence and love of God worshiping in this most worthy of temples. Remember, it was by the way, the great lover and care taker of the poor, St. Francis of Assisi who said that we should sacrifice much to build and maintain our temples and our parishes. He said, "that when it comes to the worship of God we should adorn the sanctuary with the finest linens and material, the finest vestments and most costly sacred vessels; not because God needs them but because we do. Our offering to the temple exhibits what is really important to us, who is really our God. But also, it demonstrates our love for neighbor.
St Francis, as all saints knew, that the greatest poverty is not physical poverty, but the poverty of those who don't know Jesus and his true teachings, and so don't know truly his love for them; don't know that He is still physically with us in the Holy Eucharist, and so as a result, they don't worship Him at all or don't worship him correctly. How vital it is that they see the importance we place on the true worship of God shown, not only by our correct worship of Him, but by our support of His Holy temple and the Church in our midst--St. Patrick's Parish Family. If He is really here and He is, how can we not give Him our very best. And so most of all, our act of giving must be sacrificial; the gift of our money must be an exterior manifestation of the gift of our hearts, the gift of our selves.
Today, the contrast we see between the poor widow and the wealthy, points to the disposition of our heart. Who in the Gospel loved God with everything? Jesus points out that it is the poor widow. The disposition of the heart is what Jesus saw more than the sum total of the gift. The poor widow was most likely destitute. Widows at this time, had no means of support if their families did not take care of them, and if they had no family, they survived on begging. Most likely then, the widow was a beggar and she gave from what she had begged. In her simple way, she knew in her heart that she needed to love God with everything she had and to love others as herself. She thought to herself, “I’m sure there are others who are needier than me. I know their plight, I’ll try to help by supporting the temple which contains the presence of God.” The poor woman had the proper disposition of heart, she gave God her all out of love, trusting totally in His Divine providence to care for her and for the poor through her gift, the gift of herself.
In her own way, the widow’s offering represents the Christ-like act of laying down her life. She gives of herself, utterly and without limit, not out of a sense of self-importance, not in order to win the praise of her peers, not in order to get anything for herself, but simply because she believes in God and loves Him above all things. It’s not the amount of her donation, but rather the ardor of her love that makes her offering the most precious in the eyes of Jesus, Who is God. But yet, she does give, and her gift is sacrificial; she doesn't give from her excess, she gives from her need. This shows her true motive and intention, she tries to do her best, to give God her best.
The greatest love we can give to God, like the poor widow, is the very gift of ourselves motivated by the same love with which God has for us. This brings up how important our offering of treasure is at Holy Mass. Our parish tithe, is more than just about money. Our offering manifests outwardly our inward offering of ourselves at Holy Mass. Just as in our Gospel, the woman gave whatever she could give, so too are we called to give to the maintenance of our temple, St. Patrick's, our parish family in order to show our love for God. We might not think we have much to offer, yet in God’s sight, and in fact mine as well, the gift of generously giving a portion of our treasure to the support of the temple are gifts that cannot be measured in a monetary way. The disposition of our hearts here, as in our Gospel, is what is most important. Like the widow, we have to try and do our very best and give God our very best...
As a result, we can't be miserly in the offering of our treasure to God. To be skimpy, shows, reveals the interior disposition of our heart. We have to give and our gift should be sacrificial, if our gift is to represent the gift of ourselves. To help us, I suggest that we begin to place the offering of our treasure here before the altar as a way to show that our money is a symbol of the offering of all that we are and all that we have to the God who has given us it all any way. Our gift shows our love to God, and love gives all to the beloved. We can't be miserly, for love is never miserly.
Some may think they can forgo supporting their parish family by giving of their treasure to some other charity. Yes, we need to give to other charities but charity begins at home; and this is our home; a home more deeply home than our own homes. By the way, speaking of our sacrificial treasure; if every family in the parish gave just 5 dollars more per week; that's just the cost of Big Mac or Latte, and we would have an additional $329,000 dollars per year. Just think what we could do as a parish family with those dollars. We could continue to prepare for our future; we could expand our youth programs, cover the cost of our parking lot repairs, and yes, even increase the beauty of God's temple for His glory and so continue in our primary mission and reason for existence to save souls created in the image and likeness of God, leading them to know, love and serve, and so adore their Creator in this sacred place.
In this troubling economic times, St. Patrick's needs your sacrificial gift, now more than ever, but even more importantly you need to give that gift, as a sign, as proof, of your trust and love of God; and as a sign of your love for your parish family. God will take care of the rest.
The poor widow of today's Gospel didn't have much, but she tried to do her best, let us all at least try to do better, to do better to support the parish family which we all need in order to be able to truly believe, truly adore, truly hope and truly love God. Remember it is only possible to practice authentic faith within a community, within a family of believers, a family of believers that can help- us to do our best. In this we can feed the poorest of the poor with our adoration, worship and love for God, thus obtaining the grace to satisfy their deepest hunger, the hunger of their souls for Jesus and His love.
Holy Mary, Mother of St. Patrick's Parish family, pray for us poor sinners who have recourse to thee. Amen.