Saturday of the Ninth Week of Ordinary Time

I suppose we’re all prey to razzle-dazzle in various ways, and the bigger, the better. We love the brightest, loudest fireworks; gaze in wonder at the biggest airplanes; and remember the biggest weddings and funerals. By contrast we think less of the smaller events, buildings, and spectacles. We don’t remark upon them because there is nothing remarkable about them.


Jesus, too, was astonished by great displays, but he saw things rather differently. He hardly noticed the big money bags the wealthy lugged to the temple treasury; he could not be bothered with ostentatious displays of piety and penance. But he stood riveted by the sight of an old woman donating a few small coins. I’m sure the disciples looked in eighteen different directions when he said, “Did you see that?” What? What?


Jesus teaches us to see as God sees and to admire as God admires. This requires a purification of our senses and a refinement of our tastes.


Saint Francis of Assisi, to his own surprise, completed that process when he embraced the leper. He had been raised a fastidious young fellow who could not endure the sight or smell of a leper. Even the sound of the bell they were required to sound at the approach of strangers nauseated him. But, after he heard the Lord’s call and became more open to what was in store for him, he came upon a dreadfully sick leper in the wilderness as he was riding one day. Suddenly, without forethought, he jumped off his horse, pressed his money into the man’s hands, and kissed him. He could hardly believe what he had done!


Years later, when he wrote his final testament, he remembered that incident as the turning point of his life. “What I had once considered detestable now became desirable; what I had once desired with all my heart, revolted me!”


When Jesus praised the widow’s mite, he taught us what our mighty God admires the most.

But who is that old guy in the picture?