Two Cents
Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Rv 14:1-3, 4b-5; Ps 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6; Mt 24:42a, 44; LK 21:1-4
Our Lord doesn’t condemn the rich merely because they are rich. He condemns them because, in their wealth, they have found their security and, in the gravest instances, their identity.
Wealth, power, and pleasure have the illusion of peace and security, but in reality, it demands our every thought. Such demands are only reserved for our Lord.
The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness; the world and those who dwell in it.
He noticed the widow put in two small coins and 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…” God is not in need of money so as to be pleased from our surplus.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD? or who may stand in his holy place?
What the widow gave was not merely two cents. Instead, she gave herself. She has offered her whole livelihood. There’s nothing wrong with giving money, but sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that is all our Lord requires. It is not money he’s after, it’s us.
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.
When we give to our Blessed Lord, we mustn’t merely give from our surplus. Instead, we must give from ourselves. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.