GIVING ALL

In today’s Mass readings, the Church highlights giving our all to God. The widow of Zarephath risked death by giving her last provisions to the prophet Elijah (1 Kgs 17:15-16). The Gospel widow gave “all that she had to live on” to the Lord, as Jesus testified (Mk 12:44). Jesus Himself sacrificed “all,” as the reading from Hebrews testifies (Heb 9:26). 

In giving all to God, one abandons all to God’s providence and mercy. The Zarephath widow was blessed with a year’s provisions. The Gospel widow’s fate is unknown. Regardless of the results, we entrust our entire being to the providence of God. He “gives food to the hungry” (Ps 146:7). “He sustains” the poor who trust in Him (Ps 146:9).

Jesus offered sacrifice to God. He poured out all His blood and offered Himself into the hands of His most merciful Father (Heb 9:12-14). Our greatest challenge is this: will we trust that God will be faithful? (2 Tm 2:8-13) God will not be outgiven. He says: “Try Me in this” (Mal 3:10).

Giving all to the Lord from a foundation of trust is at the very heart of our faith. We are not called to give for the purpose of getting rich ourselves. Rather, we are called to give in a spirit of complete abandonment, sacrificial love, and self-forgetfulness. We give all as Jesus did. We give joyfully because “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:7). What will we give Him that we think we cannot do without? We give all to the Lord in trust and faith.