The Art of Giving - New Evangelizers

In this Sunday’s Gospel we hear the story of the widow’s mite. Jesus was sitting with his disciples in the Temple, across from the treasury where the people came to give their gifts to the Temple. As they rested, they saw many people come and put in large sums of money.
I often wonder how they knew how large the sums were, because I do not know how the treasury was set up. Was it something like the poor boxes we used to see in the back of every parish church? Did all those coins make a great clatter when the donor put them in the treasury and the greater the number of coins the greater the noise? If that were true, then the tiny little coins the widow slipped in must not have made a sound. Maybe it was something else about the woman that really attracted Jesus’ attention. Did he see a profound look of love on her face that was not present in any other face?
However it happened, Jesus wanted to tell her story so that all future generations would know what she had done, and learn from her to do the same. Though we do not know her name, she lives on as our example of true sacrificial giving. She did not give a little bit. She did not give of her excess, holding back on what she gave to God for her own use or to save for a rainy day. And that is the key to the lesson: She did not hold back. She gave it all, trusting God to take care of her, deeming God as more important than even life itself, and so worth the sacrifice of all she had.
Do we approach giving with such total abandon to the will of God, or do we hold back? Do we count the cost of the presents we buy for friends, mentally totting up the cost of the last gift they gave us before we decide what to buy for them? Do we hold back on what we give to support our churches because we are afraid if we give more than we do right now we will deprive ourselves of something vital that we need?
I’m not suggesting that we give so much we lose our home and our children end up on the street-that’s not responsible. But a gift is not a sacrifice if it costs us nothing. To be meaningful, the gift must come from deep within our very selves and be for the sake of the other, leaving no room for thoughts of self.
If we can learn to do that, we will learn from the example of the widow. And we will become more like Jesus, who gave everything for us without counting the cost.

Copyright 2015, Carol Ann Chybowski

Carol Ann Chybowski

Carol Ann Chybowski is a long time member of the Catholic Writers Guild. She has published book reviews at various websites and appears in two volumes of A Community of Voices: An Anthology of Santa Barbara. When not busy about her parish, Carol Ann can be found knitting, gardening, or on horseback.