Daily Catholic Lectio
Mon, 24 November ‘25
Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, Monday
Daniel 1:1–6, 8–20. Luke 21:1–4
Tears and Coins
Today the Word of God invites us into a tender space—where tears meet coins, where hidden pain becomes a silent offering, and where God sees what the world never notices.
The first reading presents young exiles—Daniel and his companions—stripped of homeland, security, and familiarity. They stand in a foreign court not by choice but by force. Yet, instead of being crushed by their loss, they transform their circumstances into fidelity. Their tears become trust; their limitations become strength. They choose God above comfort, integrity above convenience. And Scripture says, “God gave them wisdom and insight,” because God never ignores the offering made from scarcity.
The Gospel shows us another face of faith: a widow stepping into the Temple with two tiny coins—her entire livelihood. When she drops them into the treasury, the world hears only a faint metallic sound. But Jesus hears the weight of her life. Others give from their abundance; she gives from her emptiness. Others offer coins; she offers her future. She stands before God with nothing but trust. And that trust becomes her theology, her proclamation, her discipleship.
The widows then and now have their psychological struggles, social vulnerabilities, and the unseen burdens. Even today many widows live between grief and survival, between responsibility and exhaustion. Yet, like the women described in the study, countless widows rise with courage, rebuild families, and carry hopes heavier than themselves.
This is the world of the widow in the Gospel. Her society judged her poverty as a curse. Her religion demanded a temple tax she could barely afford. Her future offered no security. And yet, she gives—not because she has enough, but because she has faith.
Jesus highlights three things about her: (a) She gives despite her lack. Her life has been marked by deprivation, yet she does not allow scarcity to harden her heart. (b) She gives what she needs for survival. Her coins are not excess. They are her meal for the day, medicine for the week, strength for tomorrow. Yet she places them in God’s hands. (c) She gives everything. She leaves the Temple with empty hands, trusting that the God who fed Israel in the wilderness can care for her too.
But as we admire her faith, we must face the discomfort her story creates. Is it fair that the Temple runs on the last coins of struggling women? Does God desire a system where the poorest sustain the wealth of institutions? Jesus does not criticize the Temple system. He praises her. He sees her tears, her sacrifice, her courage. But he never asks anyone to imitate a poverty that crushes or a system that exploits.
Her tears and her coins call us to examine our own structures—religious, social, communal. Do they uplift the vulnerable or drain them? Do they console the grieving or consume their last strength?
Too often, even today, we urge the poor to give like the widow, while the wealthy remain comfortable spectators. Temples rise, chariots roll, festivals shine—often supported by the last coins of those who struggle to survive. Their tears remain invisible; their generosity, unprotected.
The Gospel today is not a romantic tale of sacrificial giving. It is a prophetic cry. It is God saying: I see the tears behind the coins. I see the heart behind the offering. I see the injustice hidden beneath piety.
The widow teaches us that discipleship is trust. Jesus teaches us that discipleship is also justice.
So today, let us hold together these two truths: God cherishes the offering that comes from the heart. But God calls us to build communities where no one must give their last coin to feel worthy, holy, or seen.
Let our faith never demand what compassion should forbid. Let our worship never cost another their dignity. Let our communities become places where the widow’s tears are wiped away, not harvested.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
Leave a comment