主題：全心全力愛天主
讓我們先認識故事中的一些背景資料。
寡婦素來給人一個不幸和可憐的印像。其實，在舊約的故事中，寡婦不一定是窮或者不幸的。年青守寡的盧德，因為孝順婆母，後來嫁給波阿次，成為將來達味王的曾祖母。有錢但愚蠢的納巴耳在達味逃避君王追殺時，粗魯地拒絕款待達味。他死後留下聰明美麗的寡婦阿彼蓋耳，帶著他所有的遺產，嫁給達味，幫助達味渡過浪跡天涯的生活。所以寡婦不一定窮，經師纔有機可乘，吞沒她們的家產。當然，福音中所記載的，多是窮寡婦。這其實反映了早期基督徒團體的人口結構。耶穌的門徒跟隨耶穌的教訓生活，樂於接待貧困無依的人。所以在基督徒團體，寡婦的比例高於整個社會中寡婦的比例。這個現像，值得我們深入反省，我們的教會是否認真地以貧為先，抑或是停在喊口號的層面？
大家亦須要認識另一個細節，就是聖殿的「銀庫」。福音中的聖殿已經是第二座聖殿。第一座聖殿由撒羅滿王興建，在亡國巴比倫帝國時焚毀。當波斯繼承巴比倫統治中東的時候，波斯王居魯士釋放猶太人回國，並在耶路撒冷重建聖殿。大黑落德為王時，因為自己是羅馬帝國的傀儡，又不是猶太人血統，為了討好猶太人，不惜花費大量時間金錢，用了46年擴建第二座聖殿。聖殿不但是一座建築物，更是耶路撒冷的宗教、政治、文化及經濟中心。要維修及保持它的正常運作，需要龐大的經費。銀庫裡有13個錢箱，投錢的入口是上窄下闊的，用來收集各種名目的殿稅及捐獻的地方。部份捐獻，亦可能會撥作救濟貧困之用。比例有多少，就不得而知了。
讓我們默想今天故事的教訓。
我們在天的大父，是不會與我們斤斤計較的。祂不會理會捐獻的表面價值，或者是比例上的多少，因為這一切原是祂事先給予我們的。我們每個人從天主領受了不同的恩賜，在不同的崗位上，善用天賦的恩寵，履行天主的旨意，光榮天主。有些人賺錢能力高，不費吹灰之力已腰纏萬貫；有些人無論怎樣努力工作，仍然在職貧窮。如果天主計較他們的收入與奉獻的比例，天主太不公平了。惟一能夠公平衡量的，就是心態。梅瑟的法律，教訓我們要「全心、全靈和全力愛上主天主。」在沒有信仰的人眼中，那個接待厄里亞先知的寡婦，和這個在聖殿捐兩個銅錢的窮寡婦的行為，是莫名其妙的。有人甚至認為耶穌不是在稱讚窮寡婦，而是借她來暗批聖殿稅的不仁不義。這絕對不是耶穌的原意。耶穌的確稱讚窮寡婦，因為她全心全力愛天主，投靠天主，而不是她捐了百分之百。所以正如本堂主保聖葉理諾在他的書信中所說，天主計較的，是我們的心態，而不是捐獻的面值。
最後，讓我與大家分享聖葉理諾有關窮寡婦的默想。他說，窮寡婦的兩個銅錢，有如芥子一般少，但憑著她對天主聖三的信靠，這兩個銅錢有如麵團內的酵母。即是說，天主是不會嫌棄兩個銅錢的微小，會運用它來做偉大的事，例如感化教會中眾人的心。聖葉理諾繼續默想，這兩個銅錢，有如依撒意亞先知書第六章所記載的兩個色辣芬天使，在天主的寶座前高呼「聖、聖、聖」。又有如其中一個色辣芬天使手口拿著的鉗子，夾著一塊火炭，接觸依撒意亞的口唇，消除他的邪惡、赦免他的罪孽。
「經師」是識字的人。在舊約時代，他們有書寫的能力，可以幫助君王寫信，紀錄王朝的歷史和抄寫重要的經典文憲等。以色列人是一個重視祭獻的民族，所以經師的地位，一向不及司祭。亡國充軍，聖殿被毀，不能再祭獻的時候，經師的翻身機會來了，他們的地位反而變得重要了。因為猶太人充軍巴比倫時，深深感受到民族身份被踐踏之苦。因此，他們重新追溯自己國家民族的歷史，訂定自己的宗教、法律和經典。「梅瑟五書」能在充軍巴比倫時定稿，經師們的貢獻最大。而且，如何解釋經文，是他們的專長。他們便擔任教導的任務，很少受到挑戰。直到耶穌出道傳福音時，經師的地位受到威脅，因為耶穌的教訓更具權威，更有說服力。「梅瑟五書」又是法律書，所以，部份經師就成為了律師和「法學士」。懂得法律的細節，法學士就很容易利用這些知識，侵害客戶的權益，從中取利。這就是在今天的福音，耶穌批評經師的地方。
窮寡婦祗捐了兩個銅錢，對聖殿的維修或者濟貧，實在沒有任何幫助。耶穌卻要門徒注意她的捐獻，而不是其他人的捐獻。耶穌想教訓甚麼呢？表面上耶穌在教數學。其他人祗捐萬份一甚至按梅瑟的法律捐十分一，而這窮寡婦捐了生活的全部，是百份百。所以寡婦按比例捐了最多。這是小學生的答案。讓我們看以下的一個例子，大家便會明白為甚麼耶穌不是在教比例。有一個賭徒已輸掉了所有，袋中祗剩下兩塊錢，連買六合彩也不夠錢。他來到聖堂與天主賭一局，看天主怎樣照顧他，他把那兩塊錢，即他所有的一切都捐上了。大家認為他的結局會怎樣呢？
天主喜歡我們善用祂賜予的才幹去做事。但作為父親，天主更加渴望我們，無論環境順逆，都懂得投向祂的懷抱，信靠祂為我們安排的一切。無論你榮華富貴有如李嘉誠，抑或是窮途末路有如窮寡婦或者是那個賭徒，天父是渴望你們全心投靠祂。當然，李先生未必覺得有需要投靠天主，末路的賭徒可能動機不正確，但天主的慈悲不是我們能判斷的。
天主保祐。
Thirty-second Ordinary Sunday (Year B)
Theme: To love God with all our hearts and strength
Let us clarify some background details.
Widows usually give us an unfortunate and pitiful image. In fact, widows in the Old Testament were not necessarily poor or unlucky. Ruth, a young widow, was loyal to her mother-in-law. Later, she married Boaz and became the great-grand mother of King David. When David was running away from King Saul, the rich but stupid Nabal refused to extend him hospitality. After his death, Nabal’s beautiful and intelligent widow Abigail brought along his riches to marry David and accompanied him through his fugitive years. Thus, widows were not necessarily poor. That is why scribes might take advantage of them and devour their houses. Of course, widows in the gospels were mostly poor. This reflects the demographic structure of the early Church. Jesus’ disciples followed his teaching to take care of the poor and needy. Therefore, the proportion of widows in the Christian community was greater than the general public. This phenomenon is worth reflecting on. Does our Church really opt for the poor, or is it just a slogan?
Let’s take a look at the last item, the Temple treasury. The Temple in the gospel was already the second Temple. The first one was built by King Solomon which was burnt down when Babylon conquered Judah. The Persian king Cyrus conquered Babylon and released the Jews to return home to rebuild their Temple. Herod the Great, the Roman puppet king of Judaea was not of Jewish blood. In order to appease the people, Herod the Great spent 46 years to extend the second Temple. The Temple was not simply a building. It was the religious, political, cultural and economic centre of Jerusalem. Its maintenance fees would be huge. There were 13 treasury boxes. People dropped the money through an inverted funnel shape receptor to fulfil the obligations of all sorts of Temple taxes. Part of the income might go to charity but we do not know what percentage.
Now, let’s return to the story.
Our heavenly father is not that petty-minded. He will not care about the face-value of donation or the percentage because He has given us all these. Each one of us receives different graces to do His will, to glorify Him in our stations in life. Some have greater ability to earn money and can easily make trillions. On the other hand, there are people who remain poor no matter how hard they work. If God calculated the ratio of their donations to their incomes, God would be unfair. The only fair way to weigh is the heart. Moses’ law teaches us to love God with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength. In the eyes of non-believers, the actions of the widow in the Elijah cycle or the poor widow in the Temple were mind-boggling. Some even suggest that Jesus did not praise the widow. He made use of her case to criticize the injustice of Temple taxes. This is not Jesus’ idea. Jesus truly praises the widow because she loves God with her whole heart and soul; because she entrust herself to God, not because she has offered up 100%. To quote St. Jerome, the patron saint of our parish, God looks at her good will, not the face value of her donation.
Lastly, I want to share some meditations of St. Jerome with you. He said, the two mites of the widow are small like mustard seeds, but with her faith in the Blessed Trinity, these two mites would become the yeast in the measures of flour. That is to say, God would not despise the insignificance of her offer but would make use of it to do some big things, such as touching the hearts of many people in the Church. St. Jerome continues to meditate. These two mites were like the two seraphim in Isaiah 6, glorifying the Blessed Trinity with triple Sanctus before His throne. They were like the two legs of the tongs with which a seraphim picks up a live coal to touch the lips of Isaiah so that his iniquities are taken away and his sins purged.
Scribes were literates. In Old Testament times, they were able to write for kings, jot down the history of the dynasties and copy important documents. The Israelites were a people that attached great importance to worship/sacrifices. Thus, the status of scribes had always been lower than priests until exile when the Temple was burned down. There were no more temple sacrifices. It was a time for scribes to become important. During Babylonian Captivity, the Jews suffered much because their national identity was trodden upon. Thus, they began to retrace their national history, to codify their religion, laws and classics. The scribes had contributed much to the final rendition of the texts of the Pentateuch, or the Torah. Moreover, they were experts in interpreting the texts. They took up the teaching ministry and were seldom challenged until the appearance of Jesus whose teaching was convincing and full of authority. The Torah was also laws. Some of the scribes became lawyers. They knew the details well and could easily make use of this expertise to compromise the interests of their clients. This is what Jesus criticized the scribes about in the gospel reading today.
The widow’s two mites were too little either for Temple maintenance or for charity. But Jesus drew the attention of the disciples to her donation, not to the others’. What did Jesus want to teach? Superficially, Jesus was teaching mathematics. Others donated one ten-thousandth or even one tenth according to Moses’ law. This widow gave all she had for her living. Therefore, by proportion, the widow had donated more than all the others. This is only a primary school answer. Let me refute it with an example. A gambler has lost everything except for two dollars which are not enough even to buy Mark Six! He comes to the Church to gamble one last time with God, to see how God would take care of him. He offers up all that he has, the last two coins. What do you think the outcome of this gamble will be?
God loves to see us make good use of the grace He gives us. But as a father, God desires more our going to Him in whatever situations in our life, trusting that He has arranged the best for us. Therefore, whether you are rich and powerful like Li Kar-shing or poor like the widow or gambler mentioned above, God desires to come to your aid. Of course, Mr. Li may not feel the need to seek God’s aid. The motive of the gambler may not be pure enough. However, God’s mercy is a mystery to us.
God bless.
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