Saturday of week 9 in Ordinary Time
First Saturday - let us entrust ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Saint Norbert, Bishop
Gospel: Mark 12:38-44In today’s Gospel, Jesus contrasts the attitude of the scribes, who seek honor and recognition, with the poor widow who quietly offers two small coins, “all she had to live on.” Here Jesus reveals the profound logic of the Gospel, a logic completely different from worldly calculations. The world measures greatness by appearance, power, abundance, and visibility, but the Gospel measures by love, sincerity, sacrifice, and total self-giving. The widow appears insignificant in the eyes of society, yet in the eyes of Christ she gives more than all the others because she gives herself completely. Everything in the Gospel follows this divine logic: the last become first, losing becomes finding, humility becomes greatness, and self-giving becomes true richness. On this First Saturday, the Church invites us to entrust ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, because Mary lived perfectly according to this logic of the Gospel. Her greatness came not from earthly status, but from total openness and surrender to God. On the memorial of Saint Norbert, who embraced conversion and evangelical simplicity, we are reminded that holiness begins when we stop measuring life according to worldly standards and begin to see everything through the eyes of Christ. The logic of the Gospel transforms not only our actions, but our entire way of understanding life, value, and love. Let’s reflect: Am I measuring my life according to the logic of the world or according to the logic of the Gospel, where true greatness is found in humility, self-giving, and total trust in God?
Don Giorgio