Giving Our Two Cents Worth

It is said that our Father St. Francis gave two coins to God:  his body and his soul.  But are these not paltry gifts to give, if not for St. Francis, then surely for us, with all our faults and failings, our wrinkles and our warts?  Would it not be better for us to give the Divine Majesty some wonderful work or some magnificent sum of money for His greater honor and glory?  But if we ask this question, then we show that we are losing sight of the truth that God is first of all a Lover, and Christ is the Bridegroom of every human being, not their CEO.  And what ardent lover would ever be satisfied with anything his beloved gave him if she withheld herself?  Of course, whoever has the means to do great things ought to use them, but all is worthless in the sight of God if it does not spring from and is an expression of the essential self-gift of love.

We little Poor Clares are icons of this glorious reality.  Like the poor widow in today’s Gospel, we are without an earthly husband, without material possessions, and of little worth in the sight of men.  But we joyfully cast our “two cents worth”, our bodies and our souls, our entire selves, into the treasury of the Church, confident that we are precious in God’s sight and that He will use us to enrich His Kingdom.  And we hope that when you feel “like two cents”, that you will think of us and rejoice to know how valuable you are to God.  You are worth the Precious Blood of Christ!