The widow's coins were so thin that instead of falling, they fluttered into the Temple coffer.

-->

Monday, 11/24/14

The Gospels, with their giving us one highly dramatic scene after another lose their connection with plain life. You could like today’s Gospel for its reality.

Having found seats for themselves near the Temple’s collection box, the Apostles  were oohing and aahing over the great amounts  the wealthy were dropping into that Temple coffer.

I like the Korean word for such idle watching. It was googyung.

As the Apostles were sitting there googyunging, something  caught our Lord’s attention. It was a widow dropping two coins into the box. Those coins, called leptas, were so thin that instead of falling, they fluttered into the coffer.

Jesus was deeply touched by the widow who gave God all she had to live on. He was so wonderful about appreciating the hearts of others.

Pardon me for recalling an incident from when I was fifteen. Back then, before air conditioning, we often spent hot summer evenings out on the front steps. Burl, one of the guys, was from Arkansas. Anyway, we were talking about baseball when Burl suddenly stood up. He had spied a big brown Chow dog across the street, and agonizing for the Chow, he shouted, “Look at her, will you? She has nowhere for sweating but her black nose”

 Burl shared our Lord’s ability to feel what others go through.