***
Gospel: Luke 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.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
***
***
In today’s Gospel, we encounter two people who recognize their end is near. That recognition brings them both to the Temple.
One is Jesus.
The Lord first enters the Temple as a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, held in Mary’s arms. Some thirty years later, the Lord returns one final time, just days away from his death.
After the explosive drama of turning tables, chasing out moneychangers, and scolding the religious authorities, the Lord’s final image of the Temple is framed by a poor, elderly widow.
She, too, is nearing her end.
***
I imagine her walking slowly towards the treasury, dropping her two final two coins in, saying a prayer of thanksgiving, then disappearing into the crowds.
Little does she know that in the twilight of her life, she has accomplished the final two tasks given to her by God.
First, she anonymously consoles the heart of Christ. In so doing, she fulfills her role as prophetess, foreshadowing what the Lord himself will do just a few days later, offering the “two coins” of own Body and Blood for the salvation of the world.
That week, both Jesus and the widow gave everything they had.
***
While none of us are as poor as this widow – or as Christ was – there is one thing that God wants from each of us: our time.
Unlike a few coins, which can be given away then earned again, time is a finite resource, and we don’t know how much have. Nor can we give it all to God at once. Time must be administered in daily doses.
A few minutes spent in silence, pondering a page in the bible, listening to a neighbor burdened by life, a prayer before meals.
How do you offer God your time?
***
“This widow has given all she had.”
May we emulate her sacrifice to some small degree each day, giving God what was already his, our life.
***
***
Image credits: (1) The Genie Lab (2) Church of Jesus Christ.org (3) Grace Ministry Mangalore