Giving out of One's Poverty

In today’s Gospel, Luke 21: 1-4, Jesus draws attention to the widow who gave of her poverty,  putting two coins in the treasury in contrast to the wealthy who gave of their surplus.   Am I willing to give out of my poverty  without counting the cost?   How difficult that can be!  I find myself coming up with excuses:  What if I don’t have enough, I ask myself. What if I run short this month?  I really can’t afford it this month?”  And the list goes on and on and on. I can raise these same excuses when God invites me to be generous with my time, my talent, my giftedness, my love and compassion, my forgiveness and understanding. 

  

When invitations to give of myself  to a person in need or to share of  my possessions, though they be meager, come my way,  what if I prayed for the grace to put on the mind of Christ  and  to respond with the heart of God?  What if I reminded  myself that, throughout the day,  God will be inviting me to grow in self-giving, in giving of myself to others out of love, of being generous as God is generous, of showing compassion as God is compassionate, of being the kind of person the widow was in today’s Gospel?  What a difference that would make in transforming this world into a place where love triumphs both in my being and in the being of others.