Fr. Michael Williams

The story of the Treasury collection in today’s gospel reminds me of the story of a family who went to Mass one Sunday. After Mass Mum complained that the priest was too long with his sermon. And Dad complained that the music group wasn’t any good. And Mum said that the reader was not very clear either. Then the young son spoke up: ‘I didn’t think it was too bad; and anyway what do you expect for a pound’!

In our image conscious society today, people can often put all their time and effort into their physical appearance. This has become the ‘be all and end all’ of some people’s lives. For a Christian there are more important priorities than how we appear physically and we can see the importance of this brought out continually in the Bible. The scriptures tells us: ‘the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart’(1 Sam16:7). God is not too concerned with what people look like; He is concerned with how they act. Not one person has gone to heaven because they looked good.

This point is brought home in today’s gospel. Jesus contrasts the ostentatious scribe with the humble widow. Everything the scribe does is done to draw attention to himself: his clothing, his lengthy prayers, and his seating arrangements. The scribe who is supposed to be a servant of God, ends up becoming a servant of his own ego. Contrast this with ‘the poor widow’. It is clear that this woman does not wish to draw attention to herself. She unassumingly puts ‘two small coins’ into the Temple treasury. She did this for God, not for herself. And it is this action that is more pleasing to the Lord, rather than the grand gestures of the scribe.

From His place in Heaven Christ observes us constantly, nothing is hidden from His view. He does this because of the love He has for us, not to inspire fear in us. He made us and sustains us because of His great love for us. Yet Christ does pass judgement on what He sees. The letter to the Hebrews reminds us ‘men only die once, and after that comes judgement…and when He appears it will be to reward with salvation those who are waiting for Him’ (Heb 9). So Christ observes us and delights in our good actions, as He delighted in the action of the poor widow; but He is displeased with egotistical actions. As it says in the psalm, ‘The Lord loves the just…but thwarts the path of the wicked’.

The Lord sees our motives and judges whether they are based on love or selfishness. Just as He judged the motivations of the scribe and the widow, so He judges our actions too. When we perform a good work the Lord delights in us, but when we are driven by selfishness this disappoints the Lord who made us to love Him and to love. When we fail, when our motives are not good, thankfully we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) to help us get back on the right track again. Going to Confession with a contrite heart is something which pleases Our Lord greatly as it allows Him to purify and renews us because He is the Divine Physician.

Let’s pray that as we strive to live the Christian life, we will constantly ask ourselves the question, ‘Do my actions please the Lord or displease Him?’ And let’s pray that we will imitate ‘the poor widow’, who didn’t even know that she was being observed by the Lord of Heaven and earth, but she was pleasing to Him, because of her humility and her charity.