Homily
Monday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time IIB
St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas
26 November 2018
AMDG +JMJ +m
I get more excited for big gifts than for small ones. Boy am I wrong. Jesus notices small gifts, and says that they are more than the large ones. Smaller gifts are usually given from poverty, whereas large ones come from surplus. So the small gifts are almost always more generous.
St. Therese of Lisieux had a heart of zeal for the missions, yet she was confined to a cloister her entire life as a Carmelite. I marvel at how she was able to make more converts than those missionaries who risked life and limb and traveled tens of thousands of miles in search of converts. How did she do it? By doing small things with great love. She did what the widow did. She gave herself without reserve, and this small gift became worth more than any large ones.
Shame on us for thinking only big things matter. Even moreso, if we think nothing happened today that was very big. Jesus sees small things. He prefers small things. He will make himself smaller and an even more complete gift, than the 2 cents offered by the widow, by placing his entire self in the Blessed Sacrament. Will we dare to ask for his eyes in place of ours, that we might see His completeness in something so small?
Monday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time IIB
St. Lawrence Catholic Center at the University of Kansas
26 November 2018
AMDG +JMJ +m
I get more excited for big gifts than for small ones. Boy am I wrong. Jesus notices small gifts, and says that they are more than the large ones. Smaller gifts are usually given from poverty, whereas large ones come from surplus. So the small gifts are almost always more generous.
St. Therese of Lisieux had a heart of zeal for the missions, yet she was confined to a cloister her entire life as a Carmelite. I marvel at how she was able to make more converts than those missionaries who risked life and limb and traveled tens of thousands of miles in search of converts. How did she do it? By doing small things with great love. She did what the widow did. She gave herself without reserve, and this small gift became worth more than any large ones.
Shame on us for thinking only big things matter. Even moreso, if we think nothing happened today that was very big. Jesus sees small things. He prefers small things. He will make himself smaller and an even more complete gift, than the 2 cents offered by the widow, by placing his entire self in the Blessed Sacrament. Will we dare to ask for his eyes in place of ours, that we might see His completeness in something so small?
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