WHAT MOTIVATES ME AND WHERE IS IT LEADING?

“Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes
and accept greetings in the marketplaces,
seats of honor in synagogues,
and places of honor at banquets.
They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext
recite lengthy prayers. . . . Then he sat down opposite the treasury
and observed how many rich people put in large sums.
A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Jesus said to his disciples,
‘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.’” Mark 12:38-44

The difference between the scribes and the widow has more to do with what is going on inside of them than with what we observe them doing. The “religious” scribes, Jesus warns, could be motivated by an inner desire to maintain the “privileges” of being esteemed by the people around them. The way they dressed, where they went, what they said and did – all could be for the sake of gaining the privileges of being thought of as “special.”

The widow, at the other extreme from the scribes, gives the little that she has to God – showing that it is her love for God that motivates her. It is God whom she trust, God whom she treasures.

Let us approach the altar this weekend, listening to Jesus’ warning and asking ourselves how we are progressing along our personal and communal journeys into the life revealed to us by Jesus.

Sister Loretta