Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small 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 she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4
“In my experience the poor have always been more generous than the rich…I have had the privilege to serve and work with some of the most poor and abandoned communities in our nation. Though they may have had very little, what they had they freely and joyfully shared…They gave of their necessity, not of their surplus, and never asked if it was tax-deductible. In other words, they gave expecting nothing in return. They gave of themselves out of pure love and joy in their faith.
Our Lord surely looks upon the generosity of the poor with great love, just as Jesus did with the poor widow. Our Savior is calling us to give all we have in love for each other and in love of God. We as Christians are called to give of ourselves and hold nothing back. Our true sacrifice, which we are called to give to God and each other, is our very selves in service and love of each other. This is a terribly hard thing to do. But with the grace of God all things are possible.
Today let us pray for the grace to be a little more generous with ourselves to each other and to God, just as the poor widow in [Luke 21:1-4] did.” [2 Cor. 9:8]
Ted Dorcey in The Redemptorists of the Denver Province blogpost for 25 November 2013.