As the liturgical year closes and we open the beginning of something new with Advent, the call to conversion becomes more imperative. Yes, there is a sense of dread when we think of the end of the world, the end of time, the second coming of Christ. There is a sense of dread when we look at our lives and how little we’ve done to respond to God’s grace and His call upon our lives. The first reading points out this terrifying realization: with all the freedom you’ve given us Lord, we’ve multiplied our transgressions and used the time you’ve given us for ourselves and haven’t given You a second thought. What’s worse, we don’t even feel remorse anymore! We cannot even shed a tear when we give in to our pride, our anger, our lusts, our focus on worldly pursuits and greed. Our hardness of heart frightens us – who will save us from our awful habit of crime? Our vices outnumber and outweigh our virtues! You have reminded us of our condition, but you have abandoned us to the things we have chosen. You give us no help against temptation because it is what we have truly desired and chosen and you are a just God who respects our freedom.
Saturday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
We are tempted to consider the value of the widow’s contribution based on strictly economic proportions. An important lesson here is that God does not care how much humans value money. The varying degrees of material wealth do not determine the stature of a man or a woman in the eyes of God. God sees money very differently than we do – we should try to gain God’s perspective on money and on giving so that we may become wise. If the intention of the giver is selfless, that is the true worth as God sees it. One can give a large amount greedily, selfishly, and begrudgingly. This giving is not worth much in God’s eyes. God, as it says in the scripture, “Loves a cheerful giver.” The everything that the widow put into her gift was not two pennies – she could very well have contributed those two pennies saying to herself, “well, it isn’t that much to lose anyway.” God wasn’t even pleased by the fact that this was the last of her material wealth. God is pleased that she disregards the selfish human importance placed on material wealth – He is pleased that she is ready to be dispensed with it for the sake of God and her neighbor.
Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
The Christian makes space in his or her mind and heart for the Word of God. Daily meditating on the Word as we hear it spoken in the Scriptures transforms our mind. In that way, the Word becomes a light for our lives. If we don’t frequent or listen carefully to the Word, it will not have much power to influence us in our daily lives. Virtue is the ability to perform actions “in the light”: on the basis of what we know to be good. Christian virtue is certainly based in part on our human experience: it conforms our choices to what any functioning conscience would know to be right and good. Christian virtue, however, also gives our actions divine weight: beyond the good a clear conscience discerns, the good of heaven revealed by the Scriptures influences our choices and actions.