Give and forget

REASON will tell us that it makes no sense to give away the little we have without thinking of our next meal. Something inside our head will hiss: “That poor widow who gave away her last penny—she’s history, she can’t do that today and survive!” In these hard times the sane thing to do would be to first make sure you have everything you want before giving to others anything you no longer need—whether they are outgrown clothes and toys, coins you drop into the collection plate, or million-peso donations to charity.

But as today’s gospel narrative says, it is not the face value of the donation that matters, but the well of love from which the donation springs. Jesus says the widow’s last two copper coins are more valuable than the big sums which in reality are but loose change for the rich givers, because the former is given out of compassion for the needier, while the latter is donated to make the donor look good in people’s eyes. Conversely, then—if what matters is the love from which we give—maybe even our last two coins would be worth nothing if we give them in order to win the community’s praise, while the millions we donate quietly and soon forget about might become more pleasing to the Lord.

Plumbing the depths of this story may yet lead us to another layer of truth—it is not just about the size of or our gifts or the love that accompanies it that God is opening our eyes to. I believe God wants us to realize that our donations and love are His, only passing through our hands: we could not have given if we did not first receive, and we could not have loved if we were not first loved. Our giving is our “Thank You” to our Giver and Lover. After we give, God alone remains; it would be sheer conceit to gloat on the merit our donations. We give, and then forget that we did.