"'Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had.’” (Luke 21:1-4).
I have been reflecting on the virtue of generosity and the act of giving.
Boxing Day is so called because in Medieval times, the leftover Christmas food was “boxed” up and donated to the poor. And so – I assume – the tradition of boxing up our leftovers has continued over the centuries… And around this time, when we are starting to think about giving away the residual gifts of Christmas, it can be easy enough to start cataloguing the things for which I have little use and which I can donate to a charity after Christmas.
But it was this very act of planning to give the leftovers that sparked something in my mind today.
You see, I suddenly realised that I am like the Pharisees because I am available to give only a little and only what is convenient for me, and I make myself unavailable to give anything of real value to me. It is easy to give away old toys or clothes that I do not wish to wear anymore, but quite another to give something of real value…
And when I was reflecting on this I remembered the story of the poor widow, “He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury; and He saw a poor widow put in two copper coins. And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had.’” (Luke 21:1-4).
And that story sparked something in my mind, because widows in Christ’s time were the poorest of the poor. In a world where women were the possessions of their men, a widow was a woman without protection or strength in the world. And I wondered, as I reflected on that story of the poor widow today, if she touched Christ’s heart in an extra special way because He could see the sacrifice of the Perfect widow – His Blessed Mother – in the offering of the poor widow. You see, the Blessed Virgin Mary sacrificed EVERYTHING for God just as the poor widow sacrificed EVERYTHING for the poor.
And that is the example before my mind today. You see, the Blessed Virgin does not give God what is leftover. She does not sort through her time and allocate the leftover bits to prayer and worship. No. The Blessed Virgin allocates EVERYTHING to God. He comes first in everything. She gave Him her body and her soul. She gave Him her Child – who is God Himself. She gave Him her earthly life and her eternal life too.
In all of the approved apparitions of the Blessed Virgin, the Blessed Virgin has appeared sorrowfully. And that means something. That means that – just as the poor widow gave everything that she had to the poor – the Blessed Virgin gives everything that she has to God for all of us sinners. And that act of giving causes the Blessed Virgin such sorrow, because she is giving eternally to ungrateful and ungenerous souls like mine.
And all I can do is throw a few unwanted scraps to the poor around Christmas time, because after all, there is nothing much there that I would really value for myself anyway…
And realising that today, I hang my head in shame. For my Holy Heavenly Mother gives everything – every time… And I should be following her example in that…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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