A Widow's Contribution

November 8, 2009
A Widow’s Contribution

In today’s gospel Jesus is awed by a widow’s contribution of a few coins towards helping others. In our culture today when a husband dies the wife inherits his goods. However, in old Israel, it is the children who inherit everything leaving the widow penniless and at the mercy of her children and society. Penniless widows were abundant in old Israel. In the Old Testament widows were considered the epitome of the lonely and helpless.

Widows in old Israel were readily recognizable by the wearing of special clothing called “widow’s reeds.” This made them easily recognizable and easy to victimize as their clothing signaled they had no man to protect them. In the New Testament, Paul (1 Timothy 5:3-16) and James (James 1:27) describe the special responsibility Christians have toward the caring of widows.

You can more fully understand now the context of today’s Gospel. Jesus easily recognized the woman as a widow because of her clothing and knew widows were almost always penniless. This is what made her giving so much more special. She not only was giving what few pennies she had but was also giving her heart.

Today let us reflect upon all that we have, count our blessings and remember those who have nothing. Let us not be judgmental. When a parishioner only puts in a few coins into our collection basket let us pray for that person for that may all they can give. Let us also pray for all widows and widowers who find themselves in poverty and loneliness. Let us share our earthly goods and our heart with one another.
God Bless Holly Clark

P.S. A careful reading of the above-mentioned New Testament passages will show that widows, especially older ones, wers called to a special vocation by Christianity. Christian widows came together as the first group of women to live the consecrated life, living in poverty, dedicating their lives to Jesus and service to the poor. Hence, in a way, they were our first nuns.

Source: A Guide to the Church, Lawrence B. Porter