The words that struck me in today's gospel are: "... but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on." (Mk 12: 41) True faith in God means placing all my trust in him. How many of us see our Catholic faith as a "good to have" or an "optional extra"? I suspect a lot of people think that way, whether they are mindful of it or not, when they attend Church only at Christmas and Easter. Everyone is "busy" and has many obligations or calls on their time. To be a missionary disciple I cannot simply make room or time for faith as if it is on a par with everything else. I need to allow the joy of the Gospel to transform my life so that I re-prioritize to whom and to what I give my attention and resources. To do this I need to admit my need of God and his merciful love. It helps if I recognize my spiritual as well as my material poverty in the face of the immense love of God for me. Gratitude for Christ's sacrifice therefore becomes not a theory or an idea but the motivation for a radical orientation of my life: "for the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore, all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them." (2 Cor 5: 14-15) In this way I can give out of my poverty and, imitating the poor widow, hand over all I have for God's purposes.
