Saturday, June 6, 2026
Saturday of the Ninth week in Ordinary Time
Mark 12:38-44
Listen to the whole reading — MP3
First reading
2 Timothy 4:1-8
I command you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom: preach the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with all patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn away to fables. But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry. For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. From now on, there is stored up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.
Responsorial psalm
Psalms 71:8-9,14-15,16-17,22
My mouth shall be filled with your praise, with your honor all day long. Don’t reject me in my old age. Don’t forsake me when my strength fails. But I will always hope, and will add to all of your praise. My mouth will tell about your righteousness, and of your salvation all day, though I don’t know its full measure. I will come with the mighty acts of the Lord God. I will make mention of your righteousness, even of yours alone. God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared your wondrous works. I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God. I sing praises to you with the lyre, Holy One of Israel.
Gospel
Mark 12:38-44
In his teaching he said to them, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and to get greetings in the marketplaces, and the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts: those who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.” Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much. A poor widow came, and she cast in two small brass coins, which equal a quadrans coin. He called his disciples to himself, and said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury, for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.”
Lectio
There is a quiet thread running through these readings about what it means to give everything. Paul, near the end of his life, writes with the calm of a man who has nothing left to protect: "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith." He is being poured out like a libation, holding nothing back. And in the Gospel, Jesus watches a poor widow drop two small coins into the treasury — the totality of what she had to live on — and declares that she has given more than all the wealthy who gave from their surplus. Both Paul and the widow are people whose offering cost them everything, and both are noticed by the only One whose attention finally matters.
What strikes me is how God measures so differently than we do. The scribes whom Jesus warns against had perfected the art of appearances — long robes, places of honor, lengthy prayers performed for an audience. They gave the impression of holiness while devouring the houses of the very widows Christ defends. But the widow's gift was invisible to everyone except God, and Paul's faithfulness was being sealed not in public triumph but in the obscurity of imprisonment and approaching death. The psalmist, too, prays not for grandeur but simply not to be forsaken when his strength fails: "God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared your wondrous works." This is the quiet courage of those who keep going when no one is watching.
Perhaps the deepest invitation here is to stop performing our faith and begin spending it — to give not from what is left over, but from the center of who we are, trusting that God sees what others cannot.
Where in your life are you giving God your surplus — your spare time, your leftover energy — while quietly holding back the part that would actually cost you something to surrender?
If, like Paul, you sensed your own departure was near, could you honestly say you have kept the faith — and if not, what is the one fight you have been avoiding that you know you are still called to take up?
Saint of the day
St. Norbert, Bishop (c.1080-1134)
Ora reads this aloud, every morning, free. Ora