Christmas-2012

Glory to God in the highest and PEACE to people of good will. We repeat this message of the angels  in our Gloria every Sunday except in Advent and lent. Peace is something every generation sought after. In fact every generation thought that their previous generation had more peace and less crimes, violence and wars.

Why is it that we don’t have peace within ourselves and between ourselves in spite of our celebrating the birth of the prince of peace year after year. ? Peace comes from forgiveness. You may have heard this saying:

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, So God sent us a Saviour. Roy Lessin.

The primary mission of Jesus was to forgive sins. The angel said: You shall name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Therefore Peace flows from forgiveness. Right after the first sin, we see the rupture of peace between the first couple. Adam said: SHE gave me the fruit. They started to accuse each other.

Absence of peace is always the result of un-forgiveness. Un-forgiveness leads to bitterness, anger, grudge, and murder. So the cause of rupture of peace is the failure to deal with sin that is within ourselves.

Our public schools have been teaching children that evil does not reside in their souls and is therefore, by default, circumstantial. They teach evil does not reside in you, it is something outside of you. So, instead of fighting the evil inside, one is tempted to go and fight evil outside of oneself. This is what Adam Lanza did, by shooting the innocent children in New town, Ct. He thought evil resided in his mom and the children whom she spend most of her time with. So he decided to destroy them both. Even some of us may think the cause was: his psychology, his mother, the divorce. It’s something outside him, instead of looking at the real cause that was in him.

The London Daily Mail reported on Dec. 19 that a former classmate claimed Lanza “worshipped the devil and had an online page dedicated to Satan. And he played violent video games. He encouraged the evil take deep root in him by using to these evil practices. So, his psychological imbalance was only the secondary reasons. Not all people who have similar imbalances go shooting like he did.

So, what we have here is not a gun problem but a sin problem. Sin can only be handled by God. Only he can forgive our sins. Instead of inviting God into our life we turn God further away from our nation. And the further we drive Him out of our society, out of our schools and courts, and out of our media and out of our homes, or the more we give mere lip service to religion, the worse, things can get.

Our schools no longer teach the Ten Commandments, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled school prayer was unconstitutional in 1962. As long as the nation continues to “marginalize God” in its public life, the country can expect “more and more of these types of tragedies.”

We are raising generations of people with no faith in God or Jesus and, hence, no moral conscience and no self-control and no teaching of religious values. When we send our kids to games on Sundays without giving them a chance to attend the Church, you can expect them to behave weirdly.

The greatest wrong with the present generation is that they say there is no absolute good. They say they know and can decide for themselves what is good. This morning one young man came to me and during the course of the conversation he said: Even though I don’t fully believe the bible or in the Church, I am good. I said, who said you are good. What is the criterion to decide you are good. Is there any criterion by which you judged yourself as good ?  One young man came to Jesus and addressed him: Good teacher … Jesus reacted this way..why do you call me good..? Only God is good. It was not that Jesus was not good. It was not that he was not God.. but he wanted to tell him that everything is judged good or bad in reference to God. So away from God you can judge nothing to be good. The closer you are to divine values you are good. Even if some one who does not believe in God is said to be good, it is because he draws goodness from God without openly admitting it. Today’s generation says abortion is good, gay marriage is good. The pope said this week ‘there can be no peace with out dealing with abortion and gay marriage’. Because they stand contradicting to biblical values.

The Pope said the family in Western society is undergoing a "crisis that threatens it to its foundations," owing to false ideas of human nature that equate freedom with selfishness and present God-given sexual identities as a matter of individual choice to the profound detriment of humanity dignity.

It’s not accidental that there’s no room for the Christ-child at the inn. This rejection is a perennial attitude of the whole human race. We have to change that now as ‘there is no room for him in this country, except on the dollar bill which is also kind of being challenged.

Let’s remember the words of St.John: to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God.” Let’s respond to God’s call to holiness, let’s be the living residences of the Incarnate God; remembering that the more we push him out of our life, we become lost in our sin and left with peace-less life.

Advent IV [C] (Dec 23) Micah 5:1-4, Hebr. 10:5-10    Luke 1:39-45

Repeated prophecies about the coming of a Messiah abounds in the sacred writings. But these prophesies were shrouded in obscurity. A clear picture of the Messiah is  given in about 700BC by  prophet Mica. We listened to his description in the First reading. The reading clearly says that the Savior will be born in Bethlehem. Basing on this the Jewish leaders were able to inform Herod when he was searching for Jesus that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.

Why did God send prophets announcing the coming of the Savior ? For the same reason we reserve rooms in a hotel when we go on a tour- so that we may get enough room to stay. So that our purpose may be achieved without difficulty. But we know in spite of proclaiming in advance of the coming of the Savior, the bible says that he did not have room even in an inn. When we hear about that we feel very sorry about that situation. We wish if we had been there we would definitely have given him room in our home.

The church keeps three or four weeks of advent so that we may prepare well for the coming of the Savior. But does Jesus really get a warm welcome at the end of our preparations ? Well, this email which supposedly have been sent by Jesus will reveal the truth.

As you well know, we are getting closer to my birthday. Every year there is a celebration in my honor and I think that this year the celebration will be repeated. During this time there are many people shopping for gifts, there are many radio announcements, TV commercials, and in every part of the world everyone is talking that my birthday is getting closer and closer. It is really very nice to know, that at least once a year, some people think of me. As you know, the celebration of my birthday began many years ago. At first people seemed to understand and be thankful of all that I did for them, but in these times, no one seems to know the reason for the Celebration. Family and friends get together and have a lot of fun, but they don't know the meaning of the celebration.

I remember that last year there was a great feast in my honor. The dinner table was full of delicious foods, pastries, fruits, assorted nuts and chocolates. The decorations were exquisite and there were many, many beautifully wrapped gifts. But, do you want to know something? I wasn't invited. I was the guest of honor and they didn't remember to send me an invitation. The party was for me, but when that great day came, I was left outside, they closed the door in my face.... and I wanted to be with them and share their table. In truth, that didn't surprise me because in the last few years all close their doors to me. Since I wasn't invited, I decided to enter the party without making any noise. I went in and stood in a corner. They were all drinking; there were some who were drunk and telling jokes and laughing at everything. They were having a grand time. To top it all, this big fat man all dressed in red wearing a long white beard entered the room yelling Ho-Ho-Ho! He seemed drunk. He sat on the sofa and all the children ran to him, saying: "Santa Claus, Santa Claus".  As if the party were in his honor! At 12 Midnight all the people began to hug each other; I extended my arms waiting for someone to hug me and ... do you know ... no one hugged me.

Suddenly they all began to share gifts. They opened them one by one with great expectation. When all had been opened, I looked to see if, maybe, there was one for me. What would you feel if on your birthday everybody shared gifts and you did not get one? I then understood that I was unwanted at that party and quietly left. Every year it gets worse. People only remember to eat and drink, the gifts, the parties and nobody remembers me. I would like this Christmas that you allow me to enter into your life.

I would like that you recognize the fact that almost two thousand years ago I came to this world to give my life for you, on the cross, to save you. Today, I only want that you believe this with all your heart. I want to share something with you. As many didn't invite me to their party, I will have my own celebration, a grandiose party that no one has ever imagined, a spectacular party. I'm still making the final arrangements. Today I am sending out many invitations and there is an invitation for you. I want to know if you wish to attend and I will make a reservation for you and write your name with golden letters in my great guest book. Only those on the guest list will be invited to the party. Those who don't answer the invitation will be left outside. Be prepared because when all is ready you will be part of my great party. See you soon.

Love You Always!

Jesus

Do you think this imaginary email from Jesus is close to any reality of our celebrations ? If we think so, still there are two days left for us to change our mind and get down to earnest preparation which would really get Jesus in the celebration. Let Christ be the center of our Christmas. He is the reason for this season. Let’s not celebrate this feast as a holiday, but a holy day when the Son of God came down to earth and dwelt in my heart.

Advent III –C- Zeph. 3:14-18a; Phil. 4:4-7; Lk 3:10-18  

Two men, Charlie and Roger, got together and opened a butcher shop. The business did quite well and they prospered. One day a preacher came to town, and Charlie gave his life to Christ. He tried to persuade Roger to accept Christ also, but to no avail. "Why won't you, Roger?" asked the newly baptized Charlie. "Listen, Charlie," Roger said. "If I get religion too, who's going to weigh the meat?"

Roger has this going for him, that he understands that believing in Christ implies a radical change in personal and professional behavior. Many people who identify themselves as Christians do not seem to get it. According to a Gallup poll conducted in 1987 in the USA, there is little difference in moral behavior between people who go to church and people who don't. There is as much pilfering and dishonesty among church members as among non-members. There seems to be a widespread misconception among Christians that we can add Christ to our lives without subtracting sin. Accepting Jesus as one's personal Lord and Savior is seen as a matter of changing one's belief and not much to do with changing one's behavior. Many street preachers preach, "Only believe, and you will be saved?" Most non Catholics say of themselves as “saved” people. Because they think only by believing they are saved.

They don’t care about how one lives after one comes to faith.

Faith in Jesus Christ saves us. But that faith has to be proven to be genuine by the way one lives. St.James tells us to prove our faith by our actions. Yes, you will be saved by just believing, if you die soon after your coming to faith and you get no time to prove your faith. But if you continue to live on this earth you have to show your faith that it is genuine by your every day actions.

The gospel is a leaven that affects every aspect of our personal, business and social life. To repent is to turn from evil and do good. "Only believe, and you will be saved" is at best a half-truth. Someone explained it this way.
Repentance means to "return from going down the wrong road." Rebirth means to "start anew on
the right road." Faith in Jesus involves not only repentance, but rebirth as well.

William Willimon, Chaplain at Duke University, says that John the Baptist reminds us of boundaries we must respect and gates we must pass through. At Duke, Willimon reminds the students, "If you are going to graduate, you must first get past the English Department. If you are going to practice law, you must pass the bar. If you want to get to medical school you must survive Organic Chemistry." Likewise, "If you want to get to the joy of Bethlehem in the presence of Jesus, you must get past John the Baptist in the desert." The word from John is "repent," which means "about-face" or turning 180 degrees.

Just think for a moment how different the world would be if everyone followed these simple directives of John. John is announcing the coming of the Savior, the Messiah, the Lord of life and history. And he is telling the people how they can enter into a personal relationship with that Savior, how they can come to experience what St Paul calls in today’s Second Reading “the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.”

Christianity is not about doing the right thing. It is not all about morality.  It is about being the right person. It is about faith in Jesus Christ leading to a converted life and right relationship with God. Good works alone do not give us justification. It is the faith that gives Justification. The basic problem with Christian faith today is that we profess to believe but do not match it with practical behavior.

Advent and lent provide us with settings and circumstances hospitable for religious experience. The people who listened to John the baptizer were eager to make changes in their life and they asked him what shall we do ? His answer to them was “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.. Be content with your pay..

 If we, like those people, are eager to bring changes in our life, let’s ask the same question: Lord, what shall I do today to experience and live the life of the Word Incarnate in my life ?

ADVENT II : BARUCH 5:1-9; PHIL 1:4-6, 8-11; LK 3:1-6

Three pastors got together for coffee one morning. Much to their surprise they discovered that all their churches had problems with bats infesting their belfries. The bats were making a terrible mess. "I got so mad," said one pastor, "I took a shotgun and fired at them. It made holes in the ceiling, but did nothing to the bats."  "I tried trapping them alive," said the second. "Then I drove 50 miles before releasing them, but they beat me back to the church."  "I haven't had any more problems," said the third.  "What did you do?" asked the others, amazed.  "I simply baptized and confirmed them," he replied. "I haven't seen them since."   You may laugh at this. But you will stop laughing when you hear that there are kids in our confirmation class who do not even know who Fr.Bolte is. When he visited the confirmation class one of the kids asked “who are you ?”. Fr.Bolte has been here seven and a half years now.  It is a shame to share it here, but hearing it would open at least some eyes. You leave your children for PSR classes, but they don’t get the opportunity to attend the mass often. Some times I see some kids at PSR staring at me as if what is this foreigner doing here.

Parents and god parents come to present a child to God at baptism. They make promises to bring up that child in the household of faith, and then they disappear. We rarely see them again. What did those promises mean? On this second Sunday of the New Church Year our lesson from the Gospels focuses our attention on the place of baptism in our lives.

John the Baptizer went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, proclaiming: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 

John was inviting people to be purified of the unholy elements in their lives.  Quoting the prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist declared, “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth” (Lk 3:5).   If a king were planning to travel, work crews would be dispatched to repair the roads.  Ideally, the roads for the king's journey would be straight, level, and smooth.  John considered himself as the courier of the king.  But the preparation on which he insisted was a preparation of heart and of life.  "The king is coming," he said in effect.  “Mend, not your roads, but your lives.”  

We are called to examine our own souls on a regular basis, especially in this joyful but penitential season of Advent. We need to take some time to step away from the noise, from the hustle and bustle of our busy world. We need to look into hearts, to see where selfishness has put obstacles in our relationships with God and with other people. We need to see where habits of laziness and self-indulgence have worn away our self-discipline. All of us need to fill in some spiritual potholes and clear away some unwelcome debris, so that the graces God has in store for us this Advent will be able to stream unhindered into our hearts. The heart is the road God wants to follow so as to come into and transform our lives; it is up to us to do the necessary repairs to allow that to happen.

There is no better first step for doing that, of course, than preparing and making a good confession. The Fathers of the Church have called the Sacrament of Reconciliation our “second baptism,” in which we’re brought back to the Jordan and cleansed interiorly as we were on the day of our Christening.  Advent, like Lent, is a season given to us so that we may repent of our sins and be reconciled with God and His Church by receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We have our parish advent reconciliation this Tuesday evening. You will have a choice of 6 priests you can go to make your confession to. Make use of the opportunity to straighten the path for the Lord- to fill in the “valleys” of our souls which have resulted from our shallow prayer life and a minimalist way of living our faith.  We have to straighten out whatever crooked paths we’ve been walking, like involvement in some secret or habitual sins or in a sinful relationship.  If we have been involved in some dishonest practices at work or at home, we are called to straighten them out and make restitution.  If we have been harboring grudges or hatred, or failing to be reconciled with others, now is the time to clear away all the debris.  If we have been pushing God off to the side of our road, if we have been saying to Him that we don’t really have the time for Him, now is the time for us to get our priorities straight.  

Without dying in Christ, without implementing the promises we made at the baptism we cannot live the life of Christ.

 A soap manufacturer and a pastor were walking together down a street in a large city.  The soap manufacturer casually said, "The gospel you preach hasn't done much good, has it?  Just observe. There is still a lot of wickedness in the world, and a lot of wicked people, too!"  The pastor made no reply until they passed a dirty little child making mud pies in the gutter.  Seizing the opportunity, the pastor said, "I see that soap hasn't done much good in the world either; for there is much dirt still here, and many dirty people are still around."  The soap man said, "Oh, well, soap only works when it is applied."  And the pastor said, "Exactly!  So it is with the gospel."

So, if we don’t grow in Christ, if we don’t see God’s saving acting breaking into our lives, it is because we haven’t taken serious the promise we made to God at Baptism.

Let’s pray that the Lord's coming this Christmas will be a heart moving experience leading to life-changing and world-transforming for us; helping us to fill in valleys by repentance, move mountains by faith (Mt 17:20), straighten the crooked ways by healing, and smooth the rough ways by forgiveness. 

Advent I (C):Jer. 33:14-16 1Thes.3:12-4:2;Lk 21:25-28, 34-36

Several years ago a bus driver in Oklahoma reached an unusual record.  In 23 years he had driven a bus over 900,000 miles without a single accident.  When asked how he had done it, he gave this simple answer: “Watch the road.”  In today’s gospel Jesus gives the same advice in several ways: “Be vigilant at all times,” “Stand erect,” “Raise your heads,” “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy.”  This is not only a good spiritual advice for the Advent season but also a safe rule for daily life.  A good football player or basketball player should always concentrate his attention on the ball and the players.  A good student must be alert, awake and attentive, watching the teacher and listening to his or her words.  A good Catholic in the Church must be physically and mentally alert, watching the altar and actively participating in the prayers and songs.  Like the Roman god Janus, who had two faces, one looking at the past year and the other looking into future, Christians during the Advent season are to look at the past event of the first coming of Jesus into the world and expectantly look forward to his second coming in glory. 

Advent calls us to prepare for two celebrations.  To prepare to celebrate the coming of the Lord at Christmas to share our daily lives so intimately. It also calls us to be prepared for that coming of the Lord at the end of time and at the last day for each one of us when what Advent begins will be completed.

C.S. Lewis said that when the author appears on the stage, you know the play is over. This is how he understands the doctrine of the Second Coming of our Lord. It means that he who has begun a good work will bring it to the best conclusion of which he is capable. After all, no one has ever claimed that this planet earth was intended to exist forever. In what is called by scientists "the second law of thermodynamics," it is clearly predicted that the energy supply of this planet will eventually come to an end, which means that a conclusion of life as we know it here is inevitable. The concept of the Second Coming merely affirms that such a conclusion will be purposeful. It is going to come to the kind of climax that he who conceived the drama wants for it. 

In today’s gospel, the evangelists were not preparing their readers for Christmas.  Instead, they were helping these Christians to boost their spirits while they waited for Jesus to accomplish things in their lives that would give them a share in His risen life.  That’s why, after reminding his community about the signs which would precede Jesus' Second Coming, Luke gives them Jesus’ warning: "Be on guard lest your spirits become bloated with indulgence and drunkenness and worldly cares.  Pray constantly for the strength to escape whatever is in prospect and to stand secure before the Son of Man."  Since our own transformation is an ongoing process, we move yearly through the liturgical celebration of the mystery of our salvation.  While Advent is set aside to commemorate Jesus’ coming in the flesh as well as His final coming in glory, it is also a time for us to open ourselves to the Lord’s coming into our lives and our world today.  In order to do this, we must read the signs of the times and adjust our lives accordingly.

On the night of April 15th 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank.  Over 1,500 people lost their lives in one of the worst sea disasters in history.  A few years ago a magazine recalled the great disaster and asked its readers this shocking –almost blasphemous question: “If we’d been on the Titanic when it sank, would we have arranged the deckchairs?”  At first we say to ourselves, “What a ridiculous question!  No one in his right mind would ignore wailing sirens on a sinking ship and rearrange its deck chairs!  No one with an ounce of sanity would ignore the shouts of drowning people and keep arranging deck chairs!” But as we continue to read the magazine, we see the reason for the strange question.  And suddenly we ask ourselves, “Are we perhaps, rearranging the deckchairs on a sinking ship?  For example, are we so caught up with material things in life that we are giving a back seat to spiritual things?  Are we so busy making a living that we are forgetting the purpose of life?  Are we so taken up with life that we are forgetting why God gave us life?”

Today’s readings invite us to assess our lives during Advent and to make the necessary alterations in the light of the approaching Christmas celebration.  It is a call to “look up” to see that Christ is still here.  We must raise our heads in hope and anticipation, knowing that the Lord is coming again.  Luke reminds us to trust in Jesus, amid the tragedies that sometimes occur in our daily lives.  Our marriage may break up; we may lose our job, discover that we have cancer or some terminal illness, or become estranged from our children.  In all such situations, when we feel overwhelmed by disaster and feel that our lives have no meaning, Jesus says: "Stand up, raise your heads, because your salvation is near" (Lk 21:28).

The Incarnation of the Word into human flesh, which we celebrate at the end of these four weeks, will hopefully be born also in our flesh. This is the whole purpose of the Advent liturgy. To discover the magnitude of God’s love and salvation in a little babe born in a manger in Bethlehem and making that babe be born in our lives, and make him the center of our lives.

Christmas may be for children, but Advent is for adults. In our adult years since our baptism we have tried to walk in his paths, stumbling, going astray, drifting off course. Now is the time to re-enter the flow of his providence for us and the world and to re-enter with joy the friendship he shares.

Let’s now earnestly serve the Lord faithfully and make the best use of our time now in the light of his second coming.

XXXIII [B]DN:12:1-3; HEB:10:11-14,18;MK13:24-32

Some so called prophets are predicting the end of the word these days basing their prediction on the ancient Mayan long-count calendar. This is a calendar which correctly predicted an astonishing number of other astrological and mathematical events. Unfortunately for the Mayans, even the best math couldn’t factor in and figure out some highly unexpected variables – like their own demise. This ancient and powerful Mayan culture didn’t foresee the arrival and ultimate invasion of a bunch of Spanish soldiers of fortune — soldiers bearing weapons the Mayans had never seen and bringing diseases their bodies had never encountered. The advanced Mayan technology that had carefully calculated “the end of the world” on 21 December 2012, was unable to perceive that “the end of THEIR world” was only a few decades away.

History teaches us that when times are bad, eschatology thrives. But when times are good, apocalyptic talk subsides. More than ever before, now, with all the horrors of war, uprisings in several Islamic countries, now war waging between Israel and the Hamas Muslims, terrorism from Al-Qaida, and sins against the dignity of human life, we almost think the end times are near.

Even though there have been several predictions of the end of the world, the world still stands. Because the world is not an automatic mechanism which runs by itself. It is created and controlled by the will of a powerful God. Therefore as Jesus tells in today’s gospel nobody knows the end except the Father. Those who make predictions will turn out to be fools in the end.

William Barclay wrote in his book The Mind of St. Paul, “The great value of the doctrine of the Second Coming is that it guarantees that history is going somewhere. We cannot tell how it will happen. We cannot take as literal truth the Jewish pictures of it which Paul used. We need not think of a physical coming of Christ in the clouds, or a physical trumpet blast. But what the doctrine of the Second Coming conserves is the tremendous fact that there is one divine, far-off event to which the whole creation is moving; there is a consummation; there is a final triumph of God.”

Exactly when that will happen at the end is shrouded in mystery, no one but the Father knows. What Jesus wants to make sure his Apostles understand is that it will occur, and he wants them to be ready for it at all times. He actually finishes the discourse by saying: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.” We do not know, because we do not need to know.

We profess our belief in these truths every Sunday, when we say “he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his Kingdom will have no end.”  Jesus doesn’t speak about these events in order to scare us, but in order to motivate us.  Telling us about it gives us a chance to organize our lives accordingly, to build our lives on the everlasting rock of Christ our Savior:

But such ignorance should not immobilize us or leave us complacent and postpone things indefinitely for the future.

A mother was taking her little kindergartner to bed and as they were approaching bed the girl asked her mom:

Mommy if the world ended right now, would I have to take my library book back, or would it be okay to leave it home ?

The thought of the end times should prompt us to do our daily spiritual exercises dutifully rather than postponing them.

It is so easy to fall into a purely natural outlook on life, getting so wrapped up in our daily to-do lists that we forget the big picture, and we neglect our friendship with Christ.

Let us recognize the “second coming” of Jesus in our daily lives through everyday occurrences, always remembering that Jesus comes without warning. But let us not get frightened at the thought of Christ’s Second Coming because he is with us every day in the Holy Eucharist, in the Holy Bible and in our worshipping communities. We will be able to welcome him in his Second Coming as long as we faithfully do the will of God daily by serving our brothers and sisters, recognizing Christ’s presence in them, and by being reconciled with God and with our brothers and sisters every day.  

Today, let us ask the Lord to give us the grace of sight, so that we will be able to relate every event of our lives with His light and make ourselves ready for his second coming.

XXXII-B.1 Kgs 17:10-16 ; Heb 9:24-28 ; Mk 12:38-44

One man called at the church and asked if he could speak to the Head Hog at the trough. The secretary said, “Who?” Then she gathered herself and said “Sir, if you mean our pastor you will have to treat him with a little more respect than that and ask for the ‘Reverend’ or ‘The Pastor.' But certainly you cannot refer to him as the Head Hog at the Trough.” The man said, “I understand. I was calling because I have $10,000 I was thinking about donating to the building fund.” She said, “Hold on for just a moment — I think the big pig just walked in the door.”

Well, the secretary at St.Tim’s wouldn’t treat Fr.Bolte like that. But we all are subject to changing our tune when money is suddenly involved. That is why this passage of Scripture has been an enduring image throughout the ages. We play favorites. We treat those who give more as if they are the pillars on which the church is erected. In today’s gospel many Pharisees were putting large sums of money in the offertory box. But Jesus did not commend them, instead he commended the widow who contributed the least amount in the treasury. It is not about how much one gives but how sacrificial one’s giving is.

This Gospel passage shows that there are two ways of being generous: the way of the scribes, and the way of the widow. The scribes were the experts in interpreting the Law of Moses, and the Law of Moses was the core of Jewish culture. And so the people of ancient Israel respected and reverenced the scribes. But Jesus was unhappy with them. Without a doubt, they worked long, hard hours; they were always busy with worthy projects.  But, unfortunately, their natural intellectual gifts and elevated social function had gone to their heads. Instead of exercising their leadership as a service to the nation and to their neighbors, they were flaunting it to stoke their vanity, increase their comfort, and enhance their reputation. The higher they climbed, the more they looked down on everyone else. They considered themselves superior because they gave more time, talent, and treasure to the Temple than anyone else. But this was a one-dimensional view of generosity. The scribes were forgetting that all those external things were actually gifts God had given them in the first place. What God truly wants from us is something more, something deeper: he wants our love; he wants us to trust in him.

This is what the poor widow gave to him. She didn’t just share some of her abundance; she handed over to God all of her wealth, saying to him: “Lord, you are my good shepherd, and I will follow wherever you lead.” That was a prayer the scribes never prayed. They considered that they were doing God a favor by serving him; the widow understood that God was the one doing the favors. That’s the kind of generosity God wants to see flourish in each one of us: the generosity by which we give to God not just our stuff, but our heart.

Real giving is reckless, and symbolic of love. The woman could have given one coin and kept the other for herself. She could have kept both for herself. But she decided to give everything she had, and she did so. She did not want to come away from the house of the lord without offering anything.

Unless we gradually transform our self-centered, scribe-like tendencies into a Christ-centered, humble generosity like that of the widow, we will never be able to attain true Christian wisdom or experience true Christian joy. We can do two things to foster this transformation. First, we can ask God, every day, to purify our hearts, because without his grace we can do nothing (John 15:5). Second, we can practice. True, life-transforming virtue can only be developed by conscious effort. It doesn't come from pills or feelings; it comes from exercise.

Virtues, in this sense, are like muscles: the more we use them, the stronger they get. And the best place to exercise heart-felt, selfless generosity is at home. In fact, family life is designed by God to be a gymnasium for all Christian virtues. It is easy to put on the appearance of generosity, like the scribes, when we are interacting with people outside our family circle, because they only see us every once in a while. At home, our family members see us all the time, and so they know the good, the bad, and the ugly. And so, finding creative ways to serve our family members is a sure path to purify our hearts of selfish motives; they simply won't be impressed with our efforts – they know us too well. There is little chance of family members praising us too much for helping with someone else's chores even when they didn't ask us, or for being the first to forgive after an argument or a fight, regardless of who was at fault, or for leaving the last cookie for someone else without expecting any reward for ourselves. God wants to give us the freedom and joy of a truly generous heart. And he will, if we ask for his help, and if we do our part by practicing at home.

A short prayer composed by St Ignatius of Loyola is particularly suited for growth in this type of heart-felt generosity. It goes like this:

Dear Lord, teach me to be generous; Teach me to serve you as you deserve; To give and not to count the cost; To fight and not to heed the wounds; To toil, and not to seek for rest; To labor, and not to ask for any reward - except that of knowing that I am doing your holy will. Amen.

As we continue with this Mass, let's live it from our hearts, exercising our trust in his goodness and power, and offering our lives to him in thanksgiving for all he has given us, just like the poor widow.