FOR THEY HAVE ALL CONTRIBUTED FROM THEIR SURPLUS WEALTH, BUT SHE, FROM HER POVERTY, HAS CONTRIBUTED ALL SHE HAD, HER WHOLE LIVELIHOOD.” MK 12:38-44
Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.
Prayer Prompt before reading MK 12:38-44: Come, Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray, interpret the Scriptures for me so that I may know the Truth about who God the Father and God the Son are so that I may know who I am.
Jesus teaches us how to give today. When Jesus came to earth, He had a mission. He was to reveal God’s plan for our salvation to mankind and then go through it. He was to die in our place to redeem us by dying in atonement for our sins. This is how we are to give. We are to die to self and be in service to others as Jesus was for us. What a difficult task!
Today, Jesus teaches us how we are to give monetarily. We are to give out of our first fruits, not our abundance. This requires trust in God. It is very difficult, especially when you have a family to feed, clothes to buy, and put a roof over their head. I struggle with this. I wish I trusted God more.
We must remember everything we have is a gift from God. If you read St. Josemaria’s 17 Signs of a Lack of Humility below one of them tells us that every skill or talent we have is on loan. God gives us these things to glorify Him, share with others to build up the Kingdom here and to help us reach our destination with Him. He desires nothing more than to have us with Him in heaven. He is crazy in love with us. He cares more about our salvation than we do.
The Old Testament gives us a percentage to aim for with tithing, 10% of our income. Nothing in the New Testament gives us an amount. Today, Jesus reminds us that He understands we are giving our blood, sweat, and hard work in that 10%, the widow gave her whole livelihood which could also be symbolic for her trust in God.
God knows what you are giving, do you take time to think about all that went into earning that money that you are offering up to God. It makes it a lot more meaningful. What a meaningful gift to be able to use the talents God gave us to be able to glorify Him. This is a great privilege! God knows we need to eat. He knows the intention of our heart.
I know I tend to lean more toward protecting my money and things because they give me security more than being generous and trusting God with what basically is His to begin with. So, today I suggest you wrestle with God in prayer about a good balance in what He wants you to understand about money and what He wants you to give.
Today’s challenge: Make yourself poor (poverty) in some area of your life (give something up). If you are not giving enough back to God through the Church, make it a goal to do so when you fill out your next Stewardship form.
St. Josemaria’s 17 Signs of a Lack of Humility
https://media.ascensionpress.com/2018/11/22/are-you-humble-these-17-signs-from-st-josemaria-will-help-you-know/
Be a servant, be a saint today!
#Christian YODO (You Only Die Once; We will live again!)
Today, I think God is trying to tell us that just because we see something does not mean we should say it is this or that but we shall wait until we are granted the knowing of what it is. He says that before we get to see Jesus Christ come back down as man again He shall have to suffer, just like how we must suffer before entering Heaven. It is our way of life with God.