WORD 2day: Monday, 34th week in Ordinary time
November 22, 2021: Daniel 1: 1-6,8-20; Luke 21:1-4
The world has stereotypical criteria of what is good and what is better; social standards of what makes one good and what makes the other better! The temptation to conform to that social stereotypes is very high and dangerously subtle. Many a times we fall into the trap, though the Word very often warns us, "Do not be conformed to this world" (Rom 12:2), because, "the Lord does not see as the mortals see" (1 Sam 16:7).
That is why, the two tiny coins that the widow drops quietly into the treasury seem more valuable to Jesus than the bags and bags of wealth that the others dumped there. To be his disciples, "let the same mind be in you, as it was in Christ Jesus" (Phil 2:5) instructs St. Paul. We begin to read from today from the book of Daniel, every day increasingly reminding us of the imminent choices that we have to make for the Lord and not for the convention of the world.
Daniel was special because of this, that God's mind was in him, the wisdom of the Lord was in him, that made him shine to the rest of the world. He knew what to choose and what to let go. He knew what really mattered and what did not. He knew what it meant to be faithful to his Master, the Lord, the Almighty. Just like that old widow, who knew what really mattered in life - not that last two pennies that she had in her hand, but the never failing care of the Divine; not the favour of the self trumpetting people around, but the presence of the everloving God!
Maybe, I need to ask the Lord today, to give me that wisdom to see things as the Lord does, with the same mind that was in Christ Jesus and choose the right things and let go of those that are immaterial. Choosing the little that truly matters, will win me all that I need - the all, that is God!