“They contributed from their surplus wealth
and she contributed from her poverty, from all that she had.”
When we think about it, the most precious gift that we have
is life itself and the time we have left.
Time is our most precious gift because it is all limited.
We know that we all have only so much time.
At the very end of life, there is nothing we can take with us.
There is no surplus after that.
There is absolutely nothing that can go with us.
There is no trailer we take when we go on to eternal life.
The only thing that we send ahead are
the good works and the good deeds we have done.
That is the only thing that goes with us.
So how we spend our time is so critical because
for all of us whether we are young or old,
now for those of us who are older, we have less time
and for those who are younger, we have more time.
But we still have our most precious gift of time.
And how we use that time becomes the most important thing
that we can do for each other.
In today’s gospel, Jesus illustrates the difference between
those who have surplus money and
those who are giving from their poverty.
The widow gives all she has;
she gives her whole livelihood;
that is the cost of discipleship.
When Jesus tells us to come and follow him,
he wants us to go all in.
He wants us to always give everything we have.
The most important part of that is our time.
In one sense, it is easy to give some extra money
but the most important thing that we all have is time.
So the question then we have to ask ourselves is
“How do we spend our time?”
And maybe more importantly “With whom do we spend our time?”
The biggest challenge for us in this modern day is that
there are so many things we can do.
So many ways in which we can spend our time
and the temptation is for so many of us is to get caught up in
these little devices called the cell phone.
We spend endless amounts of time on these
and the person right next to us doesn’t exist when we are on them.
So often I see this at restaurants when
kids at the table with their parents and
there is no conversation going on
because everyone is on their phones!
Even at the dinner table is where we are doing it
and I am wondering are they texting each other a message at dinner?
The danger is that this is how we are spending our time.
And not that it is all bad.
It can be great and it is incredibly powerful
but I think sometimes we forget the presence of time with one another.
How important that is and that is not surplus.
That is precious.
We all only have 24 hours every day.
And how we use that time can be a blessing
or it can be a wasted opportunity.
So let me give you an example:
One of the things I talked about last week was
this sending forth rite and how we are called to give blessings to others,
to share the joy of the gospel
that we believe what we just read and
what we are going to celebrate here.
Then somehow, we need to spread that joy to other people.
One of the things I suggested last week was
giving blessings to those around us.
And blessings fundamentally are about recognizing the person
who is in front of us and lifting them up.
You are giving your life away by raising them up;
instead of us talking at them, we let them talk,
and we let them share their story, their life,
whatever it is that is going on for them.
And so how important it is for us older people
to do this for our younger people;
to sit and listen to their story and to lift them up:
“Tell us about your day;
tell us about what is going at school;
tell us about what is going on with your friends.”
And for the young people to share that and not just say
“Eh, it’s okay.” but to actually share what is going on.
The value of that lifting up, that blessing is immense.
The root word for blessing in Latin is “benedicere.”
Benedicere means “to speak well of.”
We are called to speak well of each other;
to look at a young woman who comes in,
let’s say a granddaughter
and we could say,
“You look wonderful.
You look so adult now. Oh my gosh.
You are so wonderful!
Come. Sit down. I want to listen to you.
What is going on at school?
I’m really interested.”
It is so powerful.
They will remember that more than
any little money you ever give them.
They will remember that.
“Grandpa always listened to my stories.
He always wanted to know about me.
Grandpa was very special that way.”
That is what they will remember.
They will not remember the $20.
They won’t remember even the $100.
They will remember how you were interested in them
and how you lifted them up.
Let me give you another example:
I have a friend who is 85 years old and
he is just the most wonderful human being I know.
I meet with him every month for lunch;
and it is one of the most special times for me
because when I am there,
he’s all in on listening to what is going on in my life;
and he asks questions.
He is just listening to everything.
I learn to listen from him because
he is interested in my life, in my story.
And I try to be that way for others.
Can you imagine if we gave each other that much time?
And in the time we gave, we are all listening to your story.
“Tell me, honey, how was school today?”
And we stay and we wait.
In this world of so many things coming and going,
I think we have forgotten the art to be present to the moment;
to the person who is right in front of us most especially our kids.
It is to be able to listen to them
and they know we are listening and hearing
their very story of their lives.
My friends, that is the most precious gift.
That is not surplus.
That is from our poverty because all we have is time.
And how we use that time is critical.
Can we find somebody in our life to give that blessing away,
to give ourselves away
by letting them tell their story?
Lifting them up and telling them how good things are,
not inauthentically, not fake smiles or fake interest.
Genuine interest in what is their story and
what is going on in their life.
If we can find a way to do this
then we will be sharing the joy of the gospel
and the joy of the Eucharist.
And this church will fill up every Sunday.
But until we give our life away,
give ourselves away by being present to one another;
by genuinely being present to the story
from young to old from old to young;
from spouse to spouse;
brother to sister; child, daughter and on and on.
Today, let us give from our poverty our time;
all we have but let us go all in.
Let us put away our devices; put down what distracts us;
and pay attention to the one person who is in front of us today
at this moment, here and now.
