THE PRESENTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY (MEMORIAL) White

The scripture tells us nothing about the hidden life of Mary or her presentation in the temple. But the seventh chapter of the Apocryphal gospel of James gives a detailed account of how Joachim and Ann, the parents of Mary brought her to the temple at the age of three. The priest received her and proclaimed: “The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, the Lord will manifest His redemption to the sons of Israel.” Mary was thereafter nurtured in the temple. It is from this very account that there arose the feast of Mary’s Presentation.

First Reading: Rev 14:1-3. 4b-5; Psalm: 24. R. v. 6; Gospel: Lk 21:1-4

THE RIGTH WAY TO GIVE

BY FR VALENTINE NNAMDI EGBUONU, MSP

It is so interesting to hear how Jesus approved of the offering of this poor widow over the offerings of the many wealthy people who must have put in so much more than she did. Jesus’ judgment may appear unfair to our own immediate assessment, but God sees beyond the visible. God knows it all. The spiritual insight that Jesus brings to the fore in this narrative is the need for us to give our ‘all’ to God and to others. The reason why the offering of this poor widow appealed more to Jesus was because she gave her offering deep down from her heart; a giving of her entire self. Giving is more of an interior thing than exterior.

The point of Jesus was that we can actually give very little and give better. ‘Giving’ is not only narrowed down to pecuniary offering. It also involves offering services to God and to others. And in doing this, we should first and foremost ensure that it comes deep down from our hearts; for that is the only way we can put in our whole self into the work and thus give our best which is what God truly wants from us.

No matter how insignificant our occupations or responsibilities are; essentially, it doesn’t really matter. What matters most is how well we do the job. We need to embrace our services to God and to one another deep down from our hearts. This is the only way we can put in our best in the work. Putting in all that we have into the treasury of divine/human services means to give without hesitation our time, talent, resources and energy in service to God and humanity. God is not interested on how little our work is, but on how much we put into it. God looks at the heart and not the hand that gives.

PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Lord Jesus, help us to put in our all in our services to you and to one another. Amen.