H. Edgar Maldonado, L.C.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Christ, our King, Thy Kingdom come!
Preparatory prayer (to put me in the presence of God)
Lord, accept the humble offering of my life; into your hands I abandon my being. Dispose of me according to your will.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the Holy Gospel according to Luke 21:1-4
At that time, looking up, Jesus saw some rich people pouring into the money boxes in the temple. And he saw a poor widow casting in two small coins, and he said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. For these give to God out of their surplus; but she, in her poverty, has given all that she had to live on”.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
The following is clear: Jesus sees us. He does not watch over us as if he were some kind of totalitarian authority. He simply sees us. This gesture, that is, his gaze, evokes that other passage of Scripture where it says «men look at actions, God weighs intentions», or that other where it says «the Lord searches the hearts of men», yes, He searches us, He discerns and investigates the intentions that are behind a simple action. We live under the Lord's gaze.
What did Jesus see in the hearts of the rich? Certainly he saw a willingness to help the temple, for he does not reject the offering, however, perhaps they lacked love in their offering. Even if we speak with all the tongues of the world, even if we give our bodies to the fire, even if we give a tithe of all that we possess, if we do not have love we are nothing, it is of no use to us. On the other hand, the woman in our story, perhaps she has lost everything in life, perhaps she is now in a situation of extreme need, who knows. But we do know this: she placed her faith, her hope and her love in the temple.
Those two small coins, insignificant in comparison with the offerings of the rich in the Gospel, which suggests that they were abundant, are nothing, but they signify a broken spirit and a contrite heart. The Lord does not reject a broken and humbled heart.
«Jesus unmasks this perverse mechanism: he denounces the instrumentalized oppression of the weak for religious motives, saying clearly that God is on the side of the last. And to engrave this lesson in the minds of the disciples, he gives them a living example: a poor widow, whose social position was insignificant because she had no husband who could defend her rights, and so she was easy prey for some unscrupulous creditor. This woman, who will throw into the temple treasury only two small coins, all she had left, and makes her offering trying to go unnoticed, almost ashamed. But, precisely with this humility, she fulfills an action of great religious and spiritual importance. This gesture full of sacrifice does not escape the gaze of Jesus, who, on the contrary, sees shining in it the total gift of himself in which he wants to educate his disciples.»
(Homily of H.H. Francis, November 11, 2018).
Dialogue with Christ
This is the most important part of your prayer, prepare yourself to talk with much love with the One who loves you.
Take, Lord, my freedom, my memory, my understanding and my will. All my goods and possessions You have given me, to You I commit them. All is yours, dispose of me according to your will. Give me your love and grace, that is enough for me.
Purpose
Propose a personal one. The one that involves the most love in response to the Beloved... or, if you believe that this is what God is asking of you, live what is suggested below.
I will renew my surrender to the Lord saying: Lord, Jesus, I give you my hands to do your work...
Farewell
We thank You, Lord, for all Your benefits, You who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.
Christ, our King!
Thy Kingdom come!
Most prudent Virgin, Mary, Mother of the Church.
Pray for us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
