She has offered her whole livelihood.

Gospel of the Day (Luke 21:1-4)

When he looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.

He said, "I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."

***

Reflections:

"She has offered her whole livelihood."

Let us call to mind that widow who, in her care for the poor, forgot herself to the point of giving away everything she had to live on, thinking only of the life to come as our Lord himself attests. The others gave of their abundance but she – even poorer, perhaps, than many of the poor – for her whole fortune resided in two small coins – she it was who carried in her heart more wealth than many of the wealthy. She looked only at the riches of the eternal reward. In her desire for heavenly treasure she gave up all she possessed as being goods that come from the earth and return to the earth (Gn 3,19). She gave what she had in order to possess what she did not as yet see. She gave away perishable goods so that she might gain immortal ones. This poor little lady had not forgotten the means foreseen and arranged by our Lord for acquiring the future reward. Neither, therefore, did the Lord forget her on his part and even now the judge of the world has pronounced his sentence: he praises her whom he will crown on the day of judgment.