Nov 13., 2018   /   Homilies, Soul Food

Widow’s mite

Celebration of 60 years of religious life in the Cenacle of Sr. Lily Quintos, rc

Homily of Fr. James Gascon at the Cenacle Retreat House, on Nov 11, 2018:

A survey was once conducted in the United States. How much percentage of your income do you give to the Church and charities? The Gallup poll asked this question to 1000 population randomly selected per religious denomination. The Baptists gave an average of 5.6% of their income; the Jews 3.8%; the mainline protestants 2.4% and the Catholics, 1.4%. This survey was done in the States. I wonder what the result will be in the Philippines? I remember a story we used to tell each other when we were young. One time, the heroes of the Philippines had a shindig in heaven. All of them were present. Then their conversation started to verge on holiness. One of them asked, who is the holiest among us? Manuel Quezon proudly stood up and said, I recite the rosary every Saturday. Hmmm, he is indeed a holy person, said the crowd. Then Ninoy stood up and said, I carry a rosary in my pocket every day, and recite it. I learned that from the Ateneo. All those present started nodding, agreeing that he is indeed holier. Then out of the blue, Rizal stood up. And there was a commotion in the crowd. How can he be holier when he even wrote a lot of anti-church literature and even condemned the Catholic faith and the Spaniards? Then with pride, Rizal stood up and said, “I may not be reciting the rosary nor carrying it in my pocket every day despite my being an Atenean; I may have written a lot of literature against the Church. But who among you here go to Church and gets to attend each and every mass, even up to this very moment. So they begin asking, how do you do it? Then he said, I find myself inside the collection basket, with my face imprinted in every single one-peso coin.

The Widows Mite by Louis Glanzman

The gospel reminds us today about our duty to giving. Giving is a holy virtue. In fact, Jesus himself gave and fulfilled the prescriptions of the law to give, as for example the temple tax and the many other Jewish prescriptions. But in here, he emphasizes an important point about giving. Contrary to what we often believe that the measure of giving is what is given, Jesus tells us that the value in giving is not on what is given. It is not how much we give that counts. Rather, it is who gives that counts. I have always reminded people that when it comes to giving, nothing can limit us but our own generosity. Therefore, every act of giving reveals the person of the giver. The value of what is given is relative to the giver, not in what is given. In the Gospel, Jesus praised the widow who contributed all she had. Despite the real value of the coins, it is the “most” important contribution precisely because of who gave them. Compared to the Scribes, the Pharisees, and the wealthy, who gave from their surplus, this widow gave what a poor person needs to survive. Value is relative to the giver. (tell of the story in parish).  I remember overhearing in a mass once. The old lady was telling her son, Oh, just give the smallest bill.

But I think a more important point of the Gospel is that when we give, we are giving of ourselves. We are reminded that we cannot hold on material things that we have, we have to give then away, all of them.We would do well to recall the question asked about the wealthy man who died. “How much money did he leave? The answer came promptly. “All of it!”. As Rousseau’s admonition goes, “When a man dies, he carries in his hands only that which he has given away.” Because when we give away what we have, what lingers in the receiver is our act of kindness of a generous person who has given himself away. Each of us is called to this giving—to make our hearts written in every heart that benefits from our generosity.

And that brings us to our celebration today, which is the third important point of the Gospel. That giving is about the giver, because when one is able to give, then he is able to proclaim a song of thanksgiving to the Lord of Givers. Then he experiences the being of God, the divine giver. Perhaps, I would dare say that Sister Lily is one of those widows in our midst who gave herself. Serving the Lord for sixty years, she gives thanks today to the Divine Giver. For this divine giver has enabled her to share what she received from him. She was able to share her talents, her treasures, her time in accompanying souls looking for the Giver. And even now, she continues to inspire in us a generous heart of a giver, that in the midst of our poverty, weakness, even dwindling health, we can still give of ourselves through inspiring generosity in each one.

Bertrand Russell wrote, “To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.” Too often the comfortable give to God as though they were poor. And the poor give to Him as though they were wealthy.

Let each one of us learn to give, because she who gives herself truly sings a song of thanksgiving.  And may this be the song that we sing today.