5 June 2021
Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
The donor recognition boards I have seen at non-profits after a capital fundraising campaign usually correlate the size of the donor’s name to the size of the gift. The largest donors are listed towards the front of the donor rolls; they might have a room, building, or program named after themselves as a public commemoration of the gift by the receiving institution. In our society, we recognize the generosity of the wealthy, but how do we recognize the generosity of the poor?
The well-known story of the widow who gives her two coins to the treasury challenges the idea that greater generosity correlates to the size of gift. Jesus proclaims that she has given more than all those individuals who poured large sums of money into the coffers. For Jesus, generosity is not judged by the gift but the intention and characteristics of the giver. While the widow is held up as the virtuous, she acts as a counterpoint to the Scribes. The Scribes desire the status and honor in life which was a cultural good. Public recognition of one’s virtue would be social capital, and it would stay off the dreaded state of public shame. Jesus cites the example of the widow likely to challenge the reigning common sense and to address the hollowness in the practice of the Scribes. They give generously in seeking public recognition but do not deal with the vulnerable in a loving manner. Their true motivations reveal themselves.
Whether a gift is large or small, money or time, recognized or unnoticed, we can all decide to do something good for the wrong reasons. The Gospel calls us today to examine ourselves in our prayer. The deeper awareness of our motivations behind our actions leads to discernment of the desires which come from God and those which do not. We trust those interior movements that come from a recognition of God’s love for us and gratitude for every gift we have received. In whatever way we are called to be generous, let us pray that we give in a way that would us list in the donor roll in the model of the widow: one who gives from all she had and only for God’s greater glory.