It has been said that there are three kinds of givers: duty givers, grudge givers, and thanks givers. Grudge givers say, “I hate to give.” Duty givers say, “I ought to give.” Thanks givers say, “I want to give.”
In other words, grudge givers give reluctantly and with a degree of resentment. Duty givers also give reluctantly but with a sense of true obligation. Thanks givers, on the other hand, give freely and from the heart. The story of the widow in today’s Gospel is a beautiful example of a thanks giver—she gave from the heart.
In today’s first reading and Gospel, we encounter two widows who are quite similar. Both are ordinary, hardworking women. Both are poor. Both put their trust in God rather than in material things. Both are rewarded for their faith.
The first widow is a foreigner to the Hebrews, from Zarephath, a coastal city on the Mediterranean, northwest of the Kingdom of Israel. The prophet Elijah traveled through her land during a famine. This woman was very poor, and when Elijah met her, she was gathering her last scraps to feed herself and her son before they expected to die. Imagine a stranger asking her for food in the name of the Lord. And imagine her, in complete faith, feeding the prophet. By putting her total trust in God, she received enough food to last a full year.
The second widow, in the Gospel, gave two small coins to the Temple treasury. Jesus pointed out that her donation, though seemingly insignificant, was extraordinary because she gave all she had. Her offering was an act of profound faith, relying on God to care for her.
What these two widows did is extremely difficult for most of us. No matter how strong our faith, it is profoundly challenging to put our total trust in God. We often look for solutions to our problems outside of faith, believing we can solve them on our own.
The radical message in today’s readings is that we must place our confidence in God rather than in material possessions. To do so, we need to practice the virtue of humility. Only a humble person recognizes their true position before God. Only a humble person recognizes their profound need for God and believes that God’s presence in their life is fundamental to their happiness.
The two widows gave from their limited resources. By putting their trust in God, they declared through their actions that His presence in their lives was infinitely more valuable than anything they owned. These widows are shining examples of true Christians, humbly trusting in God’s care. It is no wonder that they are rightly praised in Scripture.
The life of a widow in ancient times was full of hardship. She had suffered the loss of her husband, protection, status, and income, and often experienced deep social stigma. In many ways, she was poorer in the world’s eyes, yet richer in the eyes of Jesus.
The epitaph on an English gravestone reads, “What I kept I lost. What I spent I had. What I gave I have.” Today’s readings remind us of the importance of generosity, and I’d like to recognize the generosity of our St. Martha parishioners.
I am grateful for your ongoing dedication to our parish. You are generous with your time and resources, and it is because of your giving that we’re able to support our parish, school, and ministries.
You have continually met the needs of the parish and extended your generosity to the wider Catholic community. Thanks to your contributions, we have consistently met our Catholic Services Appeal goal, and I am pleased to share that we have already reached 63% of our goal this year. Thank you again for your kindness and commitment.
We may not all give from an abundance of wealth, but, like the poor widow in the Gospel, you give from generous hearts. These contributions go toward caring for the poor, promoting and protecting life, and continuing Jesus’ work here in Kentucky. If you haven’t already, I invite you to consider a donation to the Catholic Services Appeal. Jesus sees your generosity, and, like the widow, you will be rewarded.
May the example of these widows inspire us to put our full trust in God in both good and challenging times. May we be generous with our time, talents, and resources in serving God and our brothers and sisters in need.
It has been said that there are three kinds of givers: grudge givers, duty givers, and thanks givers.
Grudge givers say, “I hate to give”, duty givers say, “I ought to give”, thanks givers say, “I want to give”.
In other words, grudge givers give reluctantly and with a certain amount of resentment. Duty givers give reluctantly too, but with a sense of true obligation. Thanks givers, on the other hand, give freely and from the heart. The story of the widow in today’s gospel is a beautiful example of thanksgivers. She gave from the heart.
In the first reading today and in the Gospel reading we meet two widows who are very similar. Both are ordinary and hard working women. Both are poor. Both put their trust in God rather than in things. Both are rewarded for their faith.
The first widow is a foreigner to the Hebrews. She is from Zarephath, a coastal city on the Mediterranean, northwest of the Kingdom of Israel. The prophet Elijah travelled through this land during a famine. The woman was poor. When Elijah met up with her, she was putting her last scraps together before she and her son would die. Imagine a stranger going up to this woman and asking for food in the name of the Lord. And imagine this woman putting her faith in God and feeding the prophet. Putting her total trust in God, she received enough to eat for a full year.
The second widow was the one of the Gospel reading who put two small coins into the Temple treasury. Jesus said that her donation, although it seemed insignificant, was tremendous because she gave all that she had. Her donation was an act of putting her faith in God to care for her.
What these two widows did is extremely difficult for most of us. No matter how great our faith is, it is profoundly difficult to put our total trust in God. There is something within us all that looks for solutions to our problems outside of the realm of faith. We think that we can solve our own problems, conquer all obstacles ourselves.
The radical message of today’s readings is that we must place our confidence in God rather than in our material possessions. To put our total confidence in God we need to practise the virtue of humility. Only a humble person recognizes where he or she stands before God. Only a humble person recognizes his or her profound need for God. Only a humble person is certain that the presence of God in his or her life is fundamental to happiness.
The two widows gave from their limited resources. They put their trust in God shouting with their actions that his presence in their lives was infinitely more important than anything they owned, even more important than everything they owned. They give us the example of ideal Christians, humbly trusting in God to care for them. Both these widows are rightly praised in the scriptures.
The life of the widows in the past was miserable. She has suffered the loss of her husband, the loss of protection, the loss of status, the loss of income and in those days she experienced deep social stigma. In all these ways she is poorer in the eyes of this world; but of course, for the very same reasons she is that much richer in the eyes of Jesus.
The epitaph on an English gravestone reads, “What I kept I lost. What I spent I had. What I gave I have.” Today’s reading reminds us of the importance of practicing generosity, and I would like to take a moment to recognize the generosity of our St. Martha parishioners.
I am grateful for your ongoing dedication to our parish. You are generous with your time and resources, and it is because of your giving that we are able to support our parish, school, and all of our ministries. You have continually met the needs of the parish and extended that generosity to the wider Catholic community. Thanks to your contributions, we have consistently met our Catholic Services Appeal goal, and I’m pleased to share that we’ve already reached 63% of our goal this year. Thank you again for your kindness and commitment.
We may not all give from an abundance of wealth, but, like the poor widow in the Gospel, you give from generous hearts. As you would know these contributions are used to care for the poor, promote and protect life initiatives and continue Jesus’ work here in Kentucky. I am sure you will consider a donation to CSA if you haven’t already. Jesus sees your generosity, and, like the widow, you will be rewarded.
May these widows in the scripture inspire us to put all our trust in God both in good and bad times. May we generous with our resources of time, talents and wealth in serving God and our brothers and sisters in need.
It has been said that there are three kinds of givers: grudge givers, duty givers, and thanks givers. Grudge givers say, “I hate to give.” Duty givers say, “I ought to give.” Thanks givers say, “I want to give.”
In other words, grudge givers give reluctantly and with a degree of resentment. Duty givers also give reluctantly but with a sense of true obligation. Thanks givers, on the other hand, give freely and from the heart. The story of the widow in today’s Gospel is a beautiful example of a thanks giver—she gave from the heart.
In today’s first reading and Gospel, we encounter two widows who are quite similar. Both are ordinary, hardworking women. Both are poor. Both put their trust in God rather than in material things. Both are rewarded for their faith.
The first widow is a foreigner to the Hebrews, from Zarephath, a coastal city on the Mediterranean, northwest of the Kingdom of Israel. The prophet Elijah traveled through her land during a famine. This woman was very poor, and when Elijah met her, she was gathering her last scraps to feed herself and her son before they expected to die. Imagine a stranger asking her for food in the name of the Lord. And imagine her, in complete faith, feeding the prophet. By putting her total trust in God, she received enough food to last a full year.
The second widow, in the Gospel, gave two small coins to the Temple treasury. Jesus pointed out that her donation, though seemingly insignificant, was extraordinary because she gave all she had. Her offering was an act of profound faith, relying on God to care for her.
What these two widows did is extremely difficult for most of us. No matter how strong our faith, it is profoundly challenging to put our total trust in God. We often look for solutions to our problems outside of faith, believing we can solve them on our own.
The radical message in today’s readings is that we must place our confidence in God rather than in material possessions. To do so, we need to practice the virtue of humility. Only a humble person recognizes their true position before God. Only a humble person recognizes their profound need for God and believes that God’s presence in their life is fundamental to their happiness.
The two widows gave from their limited resources. By putting their trust in God, they declared through their actions that His presence in their lives was infinitely more valuable than anything they owned. These widows are shining examples of true Christians, humbly trusting in God’s care. It is no wonder that they are rightly praised in Scripture.
The life of a widow in ancient times was full of hardship. She had suffered the loss of her husband, protection, status, and income, and often experienced deep social stigma. In many ways, she was poorer in the world’s eyes, yet richer in the eyes of Jesus.
The epitaph on an English gravestone reads, “What I kept I lost. What I spent I had. What I gave I have.” Today’s readings remind us of the importance of generosity, and I’d like to recognize the generosity of our St. Martha parishioners.
I am grateful for your ongoing dedication to our parish. You are generous with your time and resources, and it is because of your giving that we’re able to support our parish, school, and ministries. You have continually met the needs of the parish and extended your generosity to the wider Catholic community. Thanks to your contributions, we have consistently met our Catholic Services Appeal goal, and I am pleased to share that we have already reached 63% of our goal this year. Thank you again for your kindness and commitment.
We may not all give from an abundance of wealth, but, like the poor widow in the Gospel, you give from generous hearts. These contributions go toward caring for the poor, promoting and protecting life, and continuing Jesus’ work here in Kentucky. If you haven’t already, I invite you to consider a donation to the Catholic Services Appeal. Jesus sees your generosity, and, like the widow, you will be rewarded.
May the example of these widows inspire us to put our full trust in God in both good and challenging times. May we be generous with our time, talents, and resources in serving God and our brothers and sisters in need.
Story of Mother theresa- rice in -calcutta- neighbour hood a hindu family startving -rice-getting too late- she had to be back in the convent for evening prayer, getting dark.