“Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.” (MK 12: 43-44)
The giver is much different from the demander. The demander is always empty, always in need, never satisfied, never fulfilled, and never happy; being happy is connected with having not being. The giver is always abundant, always has more than needs require, and is always enough. The life from this perspective is in being, not having.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“The great crowd heard this with delight.” (MK 12: 37)
Our Lord speaks to us daily. After a few years of daily ritual reading of the Bible, there will be no surprise, no new episode or story: the same Jesus, the same miracles, and the same teaching. This is exactly the same as your spouse. You can be bored or you can be always in love, always listening to her or him with enthusiasm, admiration, and openness. Our Lord, when we are in love with Him, will tell us always something important.
“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him and we will come to him.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.’” (MK 12: 28-31)
A very important trinity: God, neighbor, and myself; going together in the right order makes our lives simple. When separated or in other order, it makes our lives complicated. God is first—He created us, redeemed us, and sanctified us; without Him, our lives lose both purpose and meaning. A neighbor is second—the only way we can grow is in living as a gift of self; our neighbors will show us how realistic it is in our lives. Myself is the last one, but also important; if we do not love ourselves, if we do not accept ourselves, respect ourselves and are not lovable, how we can accept others, love others and respect others?
“Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.” (MK 12: 26-27)
God, when gives, gives forever; when He gives life, He wants us to be living forever. We have time on Earth, but this is only a preparation time to spend whole eternity with Him. Time here is for just one reason—to give us an opportunity to learn how to love. Learn how to love ourselves, with our limits and weaknesses, with our fragility and fears; and learn to love our spouses with their limits and weaknesses, with their fragility and fears. We need to learn first that we are lovable, abundant, and enough, and from this point it will be easier to love our spouses, because love is in giving not receiving, love is in action, not emotion only, love is in making our spouses happy, not using them to make us happy. This Program creates a civilization of love and life. God is love and life itself. He is God of the living and the loving.
“I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord; whoever believes in me will never die.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech.” (MK 12: 13)
I do not believe that there is anyone who wants to be in this company: “some Pharisees and Herodians.” Those who spend days and weeks in training (“70 days around the world, his and her world” for example) to learn how to defend our spouses, knows perfectly how easy it is “to ensnare him/her in his/hers speech.” We know that it is never good, never leads us to good results, and it never makes us happy. On the contrary, whenever we defend our spouses (from our mistaken patterns of interpretation in our inner dialog) we grow in love, compassion, understanding, and in our bond with each other.
“May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts, that we may know what is the hope that belongs to his call.” (Gospel Acclamation)
“When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” (JN 19: 26-27)
She is depicted in different pictures, in different colors, and in different dresses (Our Lady of Częstochowa has many of them depending on the occasion). She is dressed differently; She is Our Queen after all; (https://pl.aleteia.org/slideshow/sukienki-matki-bozej-czestochowskiej-galeria). But the most important thing is that Our Lady has been invited into our homes and She is with us. She has her picture or statue, She has a very honored place on our walls, She is in our bedrooms and in our home altars. We are so happy to be with her.
“O happy Virgin, you gave birth to the Lord; O blessed mother of the Church, you warm our hearts with the Spirit of your Son Jesus Christ.” (Gospel Acclamation)
