Poor Widow's offering . Part 1 " I assure you that this poor widow has given more than anyone else" Luke 21.3 I know of a Caballero family in California. ( The names in this story are fictitious ). Mr and Mrs Caballero had many problems. Mrs. Caballero goes to church daily. That family went through financial and many other problems. They were in the verge of break up, lost three of their children to drugs and alcohol, one of their sons disappeared some years back and is still missing. They were away from God. Mr. Caballero struggles to have faith in God. Mrs Caballero tried to love God and she asked me one day " Why me .. Why God loves me this way". Mr. Caballero never trusted in God and more besides, he puts all hurdles so his wife may not go to church. " I can't love my God. I can't go to Church" Mrs. Caballero comes and cries. We pray together and she goes home peacefully to return again with heavy heart and problems. I remember her dobt " Why God loves me so harshly" She finds the love of God so difficult to bear. There are moments she almost gave up. At one point she thought of suicide but she looked at life differently. " I want to live to give strength to my husband to my children who are broken", she says. She wants to love God but can't. She wants to find God's love but fails. God is present in her life but she finds it difficult to feel God's love. She read the Gospel of St. Luke and was impressed by the love offering of that poor widow. She said to me one day " I want to give my God everythig I have but I can't. I simply don't know how to love God. " She finds herself helpless to love God. The widow in the Bible gave everything and Jesus remarked to the disciples " she gave more than anyone else" Luke 21.3 This incident where Jesus watched the people giving their offerings at the treasurey is very interesting. It is as though Jesus and the disciples had a dog day afternoon. Jesus being a Jew knew the mentality of the Jewish people. He wanted the Jewish people to recognize and to acknowledge their mistakes. The Israelites kept watching one another . It could also be that among them there was an attitude of giving to be noticed by the others. No wonder Jesus stressed the fact that " Donot give alms to be noticed" Jesus said in yet another place " don't your left hand know what the right hand does". I think Jesus heavily criticized the mentality of the Jews who pretended to be Holy and perfect. Many people do acts of chatrity to be seen. Many of the Jews have performed ablutions and many other customs so that the others might know that they are in fasting and prayer. Jesus didn't recognize their attitudes as healthy . Jesus asked such pretentious people to pray in private so that the Father who sees their hearts will reward them in priovate. God was the main theme for the Israelites although many of them didnt have God experience. No wonder it is said in the Bible " This generation gives me only lip service". I think it is true even today. Many of us want to please others by giving charity. Many of us are Sunday Christians who nominally practice our Faith. Jesus is inviting us to turn away from our intellectual approach to faith and morals and to repent and return to the Lord in thoughts, words and actions. God wants us to be Christians in name and in deed. To be continued in part 11 of The widow's mite Thomas Mathew California July 19 2001. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ********************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] To know more about Jesus Youth, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org **********************************************************************
