A reading of the holy gospel according to Luke. Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And then he saw a poor widow who put in only 2 copper coins. And Jesus said, truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, put in all the living that she had.
And this is the gospel of the lord. The name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. In a utilitarian and a pragmatic world in which we very much live or try to live, this parable or not not just a parable, this is supposed to be an incident from our lord's life. This falls in many ways upon deaf ears.
If you were trying to build a church and were getting contributions, The widow's mite, as we have learned to call it, and I think it's still a pretty neat little phrase, the widow's mite wouldn't help you to build a church very much, at least some people would would assume that. But this, of course, brings out in a very and remember you're talking in terms of of the Temple Of Jerusalem, which was simply magnificent and in which the gifts in many instances were magnificent. Because in many in many instances, those who had it to give did give. Remember, even the publican, how he said to Christ how he handled his finances, and he was a sinner. So you can imagine, to some extent, the generosity, whatever be the motivation behind it, but the generosity of those who were able to give.
It was magnificent. And here's a widow comes in and drops in a few copper coins, and our lord tells the son that what she gave is much more valuable than all that the others gave. Well, if if it is, if he if what he said is true, then you're going to have to weigh this whole business in a different scale of values. What is your scale of value? Well, of course, in some places in The United States Of America where we're supposed to be educating the young, you can't even talk about a scale of values.
You're not supposed to teach values. What else you're supposed to teach, I do not know. But what is your scale of values? Now there's a song, and with my wonderfully retentive memory, that particular number escapes it. But verse after verse of that psalm, which we recite in the office, is is God speaking.
And his speaking, well, to the chosen people through the mouth, I presume, of David or the equivalent thereof. And God is saying, do I need all your your bullets? Do I need your steers? Do I need all your flocks? Do I need your sheep?
Do I need your gold? Do I need you? God doesn't need anything. I often think what a mess and a stinking place the temple must have been of Jerusalem. This magnificent edifice in a spectacular location, but when you think of the sacrifices that were offered offered there and the slaughtering that went on, it must have been a filthy, ugly, repulsive place where this went on.
But this psalm keeps stressing that God doesn't need all these gifts. What does God really want? What does he want? What's your scale of values? Now, even a more basic question, more basic than the question, what is your scale of values, is the question, what is god's scale of values?
And if in this universe there is such a a reality, a knowable reality as god's scale of values, then have we any choice of what ours should be? It should be god's. Now I can remember bishop McNamara. Bishop McNamara, I used to meet about four or five times a year at ordinations, and we would ride over to the Catholic U together from Saint Gabriel's. So and from time to time, we would have a heart to heart talk about sundry matters afflicting the world.
Now he was a man, as far as I know, was quite removed from the nitty gritty doings of the marketplace and the cash register. But more than once he said and emphasized that it was important in any parish to have something going on that would bring the people to do something. Now remember, doing something, as our lord here points out, giving all of this treasure, puts it to god. But you see, bishop McNamara had this point of view as regards this. It wasn't important what they did.
It was important that they were doing something for the right reason. That was important. Now when you think, for example, of these magnificent cathedrals that were built in Europe, and let's not stop with Europe because you can certainly see plenty of magnificent churches, in many ways magnificent, in South And Central America. You can see them in North America. You can see them in The United States Of America.
You can see them in Canada. And please remember this, wherever you look, if you're speaking and looking at a Catholic church, whether it be the Middle Ages or all the way down to 1,980 in the Shrine Of The Immaculate Conception, you are looking at an edifice built mostly by the contributions of what we today would call the poor, in quotation marks. It they are not the gifts of some magnificent, fabulously wealthy person like mister Mellon who gave that museum down on the wall. It's often said that the dimes of the Irish maids on Park Avenue built Saint Patrick's. I don't know whether it's true, I've heard it said many times.
I certainly know in my own experience in the parishes where I've been, they do not exist on the ability of a few wealthy people to sign whopping big checks. They exist, I mean exist, and continue in being on the contributions of people who in many instances are pinched to give it. Now, you see, this is what we're talking about this morning was one of the main issues of the reformation as far as Luther is concerned, not as far as England and Henry the eighth. But this matter of giving and building churches and and and or putting it or putting it this way, the material panoplys of religion, this is a very serious thing we ought to get straight in our minds. What's it all about?
Luther rose up in rebellion and said it was horrible. And remember, he had a lot of truth going with him. He never said anything really as far as some of the abuses which Erasmus hadn't said before him and said it in much more eloquent language. The difference is that Erasmus was using Latin of the intelligent people. Luther came down to the Vulgus and spoke German, and they he listened.
So here we what our lord is telling us here this morning in this in this incident from his life, it's terrifically important for us to realize what it's all about. What is it all about? And when it's all said and done, you see, it's important for for notice this. Why did the widow give anything? Did she have to do it?
Why should she have taken from her very need to give to the temple which didn't need it? Well, the point is she didn't give it to the temple. She was giving it to god in some way. In other words, she was giving herself. And this is this is the point of view we have to remember.
This is why a big bishop McNair was so right in my estimation of what he was saying. It isn't what people give in the sense of what they're giving, it's what they give of themselves that counts. And I think our blessed Lord here has taught us a mighty big lesson. Perspective. It it puts his seal of approval of to of of giving to God almighty, of separating ourselves from something which is very dear to us, which may even be a privation or a deprivation.
He puts his seal of approval on that, whether we like it or not. He praises the widow for it. She certainly didn't act out of common sense or reasonableness as the world sees it. She was very imprudent as far as the world goes. But remember what Christ said, my kingdom is not of this world.
You come back to that all the time. And so our religion is not of this world, and anything that partakes of our religion is not of this world. And if it is only of this world, it is not of our lord's and Christ's world. This is what we have to remember. It's not that the supernatural doesn't build on the natural.
Paul, that's a very different thing, you see. And so this this episode from our lord's life has terrific meaning. It is terrific. It our blessed lord is putting everything in his perspective. And, of course, when it all is said and done, all that our blessed lord asks of us is everything.
In the name of the father, son, the holy spirit. Amen.