Dear Father,

I read and hear different interpretations of this passage from the Gospel, which differ from each other even in substance. Some exalt the widow’s testimony: “This woman does in advance what Jesus does, who will be the true temple, the true presence of God, and gives everything, she is like God” (Lk 21:1-4).

Others speak more of a feeling of compassion towards her, emphasising above all the role of the religious institution. According to these interpretations, it would seem that the focus is not on the widow but on the temple. The message that Jesus wants to convey is not the glorification (on the contrary) of the widow’s behaviour (victim of the religious institution) who bled herself dry and offered her whole life to keep the temple standing. Jesus would like to emphasise that this institution was supposed to use its income to support the weak in society, especially widows and orphans, but instead did the opposite. This is why Jesus says (in the following verses) that not one stone will be left standing, that there is no reason for a religious institution to exist if, instead of helping the least and the weak, it exploits them for its own maintenance.

Two diametrically opposed interpretations. 

Dear Fr. Angelo, you can imagine the turmoil that such situations can cause in those who seek the truth and the light with great simplicity and humility.

A brotherly embrace,

Cesare

Priest’s answer

Dear Cesare,

1. It seems to me that both interpretations go beyond the immediate meaning that everyone easily grasps.

To understand its immediate meaning, it is necessary to interpret this text as those who were closest to Jesus, inherited the teaching of the apostles and understood it. These are the Holy Fathers.

2. Here is what St John Chrysostom, one of the four great doctors of the Eastern Church, says: “God does not look at the smallness of the offering, but at the amount of affection.

Almsgiving is not giving a few things out of many, but doing what the widow did, who emptied herself of all her possessions.

And if you cannot offer as much as the widow, at least offer all your surplus”.

3. Saint Cyril: “She offered two coins that she had earned through hard work for her daily bread; or she gave to God what she begged for from others every day, thus showing that her poverty became fruitful for her.

So she surpassed the others and, according to God’s righteous judgment, she was crowned by God”. That is why Jesus continues: “Truly I tell you, this poor woman has put in more than anyone else”.

4. Saint Bede: “Everything we offer with a willing heart is acceptable to God, who weighs not the substance but the heart, and examines not the quantity that is sacrificed, but from what quantity it is offered. Hence it follows: all these people have given as an offering from their surplus, but she, in her poverty, has given everything she had to live on”.

5.Saint Leo the Great: “No one, dear friends, can consider themselves uninvolved in a good deed. No one should be justified by their poverty, as if it were barely enough for them and could not benefit another.

What is offered by those who are small is great, and on the scale of divine justice, we are judged not on the basis of the quantity of gifts but on the basis of the weight of souls.

The widow in the Gospel put two coins into the treasury, and this surpassed the gifts of all the rich.

No act of piety is of little value in the eyes of God. No act of compassion is fruitless.

He has given different resources to men, but he does not ask for different feelings” (Sermon 20,3,1).

6. Saint Cyprian: “Truly blessed and worthy of glory is that woman who deserves to be praised by the words of the Judge before the day of judgement!

Let the rich be ashamed of their fruitlessness and their meanness. We find that a widow who is poor gives charity; for everything that is brought and given to orphans and widows, she offers, when she should be receiving, so that we understand what punishment awaits the rich who do not give alms, since according to this testimony even the poor must give charity”.

7.These are the most wholesome comments, touching everyone’s heart and inspiring them to do good.

I bless you, wish you well, and remember you in my prayers.

Father Angelo

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