November 10, 2024

32^ndSunday in Ordinary Time

True Giving Doesn’t Require a Spotlight

Msgr Thomas Gervasio

I’d like to begin with a confession of sorts. It goes back to when I was about 6 years old. Walking to Mass every Sunday, I’d pass a pastry shop. It seemed that always seated outside its door was the owner’s elderly mother in a black dress and large apron. One Sunday, she called me over and handed me 2 dollars: “Here is a dollar for you and one for your sister. After dinner, come back for a pastry.” I went on to church but during Mass I realized that I had forgotten my offering envelope. (The parish provided children with a box of little envelopes to train us to be good givers!) What to do? When the basket passed, I put in my sister’s dollar! After dinner I told my mother that I was going to the pastry shop! She said, “Don’t forget to take your sister. I know that you received two dollars this morning!” (Mothers communicate!) I went to my room to break into my bank!
 
Giving is the certainly the focus of today’s 1st reading and Gospel. Two widows, with no thought of tomorrow, give all they had to live on. From a purely human perspective, their actions are foolish, a neglect of their own needs. Elijah demands a cake even when the widow tells him that she and her son have hit rock bottom and only death awaited them. At the temple, the widow gave her last coins. These are surely examples of sacrificial giving and trust in Divine Providence. But there is also another lesson we can garner when we focus on the widow in the temple.
 
In the temple there were 13 trumpet-shaped metal offering containers. The Scribes and Pharisees made sure that their offerings were heard by pouring in a great number of heavy coins. They publicized their gift. The two coins offered by widow hardly made a sound, they went unnoticed.
 
But God knows and God sees. Pope Francis reminds us that “the Lord’s scales are different than ours. He weighs people and their actions differently…He examines the heart; he looks at the purity of intentions.”
 
This is a lesson on how a gift is best offered to God. Pope Francis says, “When we are tempted by the desire to stand out…when we ack like ‘peacocks,’ let us think of think of the widow in the temple.”
 
 Let’s also consider the Lord’s admonition: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them. When you give alms, to not blow a trumpet before you…to win the praise of others…you have already received your reward. When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your almsgiving may be secret and your Father who sees what is secret will repay you.”
 
St. Vincent dePaul advised, “A good work talked about is a good work spoiled.” Our giving, our charity, involves a sacrifice that should be devoid of display. Humility should characterize the actions of a disciple. I don’t know if you ever heard of Cardinal Merry del Val’s “Litany of Humility.” It’s a hard litany to pray! Here are just a few lines:

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
 From the desire of being esteemed,
 From the desire of being extolled,
 From the desire of being honored,
 From the desire of being praised,
 From the desire of being approved,
 From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, Jesus.
 That others may be esteemed more than I,
 That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease,
 That others may be chosen and I set aside,
 That others may be praised and I unnoticed,
 That others may be preferred to me in everything,
 That others may become holier than I,
provided that I may become as holy as I should,    
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.