“Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands.”
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews is first referring to heaven – the courts of God most high. As the true High Priest, Jesus stands in the presence of the Father as our intercessor. Through His life, death, and resurrection, Christ entered that heaven to bring us salvation.
However, there is another meaning – a spiritual meaning to this sanctuary that Jesus enters. Also not made by human hands, Jesus enters our hearts to dwell there and to shape us into His disciples – loving like Him and living like Him. St. Alphonsus Liguori taught that “Paradise for God is the human heart”; it is where God wants to dwell more than any other place in all the universe.
Our readings this weekend offer us a picture of what it looks like when God dwells in our heart and we know it for sure.
First, the Gospel shows us Jesus “sitting down opposite the treasury” and watching the worshippers who come and offer their tithes. Jesus is aware of our offerings as part of our worship! Here, He is doing exactly what I wish He wouldn’t do as I give my offering! I don’t want anyone watching, even Jesus! But here He is, making observations and commenting!
Is Jesus there to judge the amounts that people give? No! Remember, “Paradise for God is the human heart.” Therefore, as Jesus, the Son of God, sits and watches, He is looking for His paradise, His heaven – that place “not made by human hands,” where He so greatly desires to dwell. That is why the offering of the poor widow catches His attention.
Her offering is no empty gesture, not meant for show to anyone else. It is for God and only for Him. That is why Jesus sees it, and that is why Jesus points it out to the disciples. She not only gives the whole of her material blessings; she gives “her whole livelihood.” That word, “livelihood,” is more than simply her material wealth. The Greek word is bios, whence we get “biology.” It refers to the substance of life and what makes life possible; no bios, no life. And as Jesus recognizes, she gives it away.
This is a profound act of trust in God; and act that can only be born of love and total dependence on God. This widow, in her poverty, recognizes that everything that makes her life possible (her bios) is only a gift of God. She shows that dependence on God that only the poor in spirit can exhibit.
There’s a difference between being poor in spirit and being spiritually poor. The widow is poor in spirit. By way of contrast, the rich are being spiritually poor. Not because their gifts are insignificant; but rather, because their offerings are meant to impress others. Such an offering in the context of worship is, in fact, a wasted effort. Anyone can fall into this trap. It is very possible that I am spiritually poor even as I stand here and celebrate Mass. The way that we can convert from this spiritual poverty to being poor in spirit lies in our love for God.
That love must be complete; it must be a love that acknowledges that everything we have, everything that we are (our whole bios) comes from Him and Him alone. It must mean that we have fallen in love with God. The former superior of the Jesuits, Fr. Pedro Arrupe, once told his fellow Jesuits, “Nothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in Love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in Love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”
This woman who catches Jesus’ eye in the Temple is a woman who is in love. She is in love with God, and that fact determines everything about her life. This is the relationship that our Mass invites us to today. God wants you to be in love with Him because He is in love with you! He desires, more than anything, to dwell in your heart in a complete and final way. This is why Jesus came, and it is why He chooses to enter you here and now at this Eucharist.
Open your heart to Jesus. Give Him a home there. May His Sacred Heart find rest in yours so that you can find the faith to trust completely in Him. Again today, “Christ does not enter into a sanctuary made by hands,” but into the place that the Father has prepared for Him and for you.
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