Monday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

In today’s Gospel, Jesus greatly admires the poor widow who puts all of her money into the collection box at the temple. He says of her that she put in more than all of the rest, who were giving out of their surplus. We should all strive to be like her in our own lives. Of course, that doesn’t mean giving away all of our money, after all we do have very real responsibilities with the money we have, both for our families and our communities.

Rather we should look at the spirit with which she gave: she gave her all for the service of God and God’s people. In that, we can all strive to imitate her. We too can strive to give all of ourselves that we can for our service to God, for our families, for our churches, and for our communities.

Jesus himself tells us to approach our lives and responsibilities in this way, for example in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 7:33), as he tells us not to worry about what we will eat or what we shall wear, he says: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you besides.” For us, as for the poor widow, it is how we set our priorities in our lives.

Reflection by Fr. Aquinas Keusenkothen, OSB