Today, 24th of January, we celebrate
Saint Francis de Sales
I, John, looked and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion,
and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand
who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
I heard a sound from heaven
like the sound of rushing water or a loud peal of thunder.
The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps.
They were singing what seemed to be a new hymn before the throne,
before the four living creatures and the elders.
No one could learn this hymn except the hundred and forty-four thousand
who had been ransomed from the earth.
These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
They have been ransomed as the first fruits
of the human race for God and the Lamb.
On their lips no deceit has been found; they are unblemished.
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
The Lord’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people
putting their offerings into the treasury
and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
He said, “I tell you truly,
this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus observes a poor widow who gives two small coins to the temple treasury. Though her offering is tiny compared to the gifts of the wealthy, Jesus is moved by her generosity. “This poor widow has put in more than all the others,” he says, “for she has given all she had to live on” (Luke 21:4). Her gift, though materially small, is a profound act of faith, trust, and love.
Jesus’ words challenge us to rethink what true generosity looks like. The widow’s offering was a sacrifice; it wasn’t given from excess but from her very sustenance. Her trust in God’s provision is humbling. Unlike the rich, who give only what they can spare, this widow’s gift expresses a complete reliance on God.
Today, we are called to ask ourselves: How do we give? Do we share only when it’s convenient, or are we willing to give sacrificially, trusting that God will meet our needs? The widow reminds us that generosity is not about the size of our gift but the love and faith with which we give it. It’s about sharing even in our own need, recognizing that everything we have is a blessing from God meant to be shared.
In the early Church, this spirit of radical sharing was foundational. Christians were known for their willingness to support each other, pooling resources so that “none was in need” (Acts 4:34). As followers of Christ today, we too are called to live with open hearts and hands, to embrace a spirit of solidarity and generosity.
May we learn from this widow’s humble example, trusting in God’s provision and giving joyfully from the heart, knowing that in God’s kingdom, even our smallest acts of love matter greatly.
Those who have not given in to the attraction and even persecution by paganism and the power of the world (Roman Empire) are the remnant of Christ marked with the sign of Christ and of the Father. They have been loyal to him, as they have preferred the poverty of Christ above power, prestige and personal safety. They did not belie their integrity as Christians. Our reading presents them to us as praising God in a heavenly liturgy.
The widow goes beyond the law. In her generosity she does not only give all she has, she has only what she has given. Poor people often know well how to give because they know what it means to be poor and dependent; they know how to live in the hands of God.
Lord our God, generous Father,
simple people put us often to shame
by their total generosity
and straightforward loyalty.
Make us realize Lord,
that like your Son, the real poor of heart
often make us understand who you are:
a God who gives himself.
Grant us too, this kind
of generous love and loyalty
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
– Lord, we pray for widows and orphans. Keep them from despair and make us attentive to their need of love and compassion, we pray:
– Lord, we pray for all the poor who are insecure about the next day. May we bring them security and love, we pray:
– Lord, we pray for this community. Make us learn from the poor to be gene-rous enough to share not only from our abundance but also when needed, from our own poverty, we pray:
God, if you want someone
to suffer or die for sin
that we may live,
you take your own Son and he agrees loyally.
God, who give yourself,
accept these gifts, poor as they are,
because in them we place our own generosity
in the hope that you will make it grow
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Lord our God, generous Father,
in your Son, Jesus Christ, you come to us
not the way a rich person would visit
an underdeveloped humanity,
but the way a poor one shares
with those who are also poor like him or her.
Accept our thanks for giving yourself
and revealing in Jesus
all the abundance of your love
with an infinite respect for our human poverty.
Accept our thanks through Christ, our Lord.
Christ gave his own self to bring others reconciliation and happiness. Christians should learn from him to give themselves without counting the cost, with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
