＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Daniel 1: 1-6, 8-20*

  As Daniel was resolved not to make himself unclean with the king’s food  or  wine,

  he  begged  the  chief eunuch to spare him this defilement. By the grace of God, the chief eunuch had been sympathetic to Daniel, but he was afraid of the king, so he said, “If the king, who has allotted your food and drink, sees that you look more emaciated than the other young men of your age, he might think ill of me. It will put my life in danger to give in to your wish.”

 Daniel then turned to the steward whom the chief eunuch had put in charge of Daniel, Hananiah, Mis­hael, and Azariah.   “Please test your servants for ten days. Give us only vegetables to eat and water to drink,  and see how we look in comparison with the young men who eat food from the king’s table. Then treat us in accordance with what you see.”

The steward agreed and tested them for ten days, at the end of which they looked healthier and better fed than any of the young men who ate  the king’s food. So the steward continued to give them vegetables instead of the choice food and wine.

 To these four youths God gave wisdom and proficiency in literature, and to Daniel the gift of interpreting visions and dreams.  At the end of the period set by the king for the youths’ training, the chief eunuch presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.

 The king talked with them and found none to equal Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Aza­riah. These four became members of the king’s court.   In any matter of wisdom and discernment about which the king consulted, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

 

Dn 3  Glory and praise for ever!

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Luke 21: 1-4

 Jesus looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasure of the temple. He also saw a poor widow who dropped in two small coins.  And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow put in more than all of them.  For all of them gave an offering from their plenty, but she, out of her poverty, gave all she had to live on.”

  

Gospel Reflection：

“OUT OF HER POVERTY, GAVE ALL SHE HAD TO LIVE ON.”

In one of the episodes of a noontime show in TV, the host, told the crowd that he received an anonymous gift. It was left on the doorstep of his house. What he did was to bring that gift to his program and opened it there for the whole world to see. Even I was surprised to see what the gift box contained: cold cash amounting to P750,000.00!

Honestly, I found that inspiring. Someone gave a very huge amount and did not seek to be recognized at all. But putting that into the context of the gospel today, was that impressive to God as well?

It depends. If we give out of our excess, what is of less value and what is useless to us, this will not be impressive to God. The measure of real, impressive giving is the sacrifice that goes along with it.

Give ‘til it hurts, we are told, because when we’re hurting what we give truly becomes a gift. It is not the gift that counts, but the giver and the motivation for giving. As one saying goes, it does not matter how much we give but how much of ourselves is given along with our gifts.