Msgr. Roger J. Landry
National Director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Daily Reflection for November 24, 2025
Here is the video of today’s reflection.
The Youtube generated transcript for today’s reflection is:
I am Monsignor Roger Landry National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies. It’s Monday, November 24th and I am coming to you from the ravine on the property of the shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville, New York, where St. Rene Goupil was reverently buried by St. Isaac Jogues after St. Rene Goupil’s martyrdom in 1642. Today’s Gospel, as Jesus continues to help us to learn how to live each day in view of the last things, death, judgment, heaven, and hell, we’ve got an extraordinary witness of generosity that Jesus wanted us never to forget. He’s in the temple area and he was close to the long inverse tuba through which so many people would make their offerings for the temple because the currency at the time was all made out of coins that put it into the top of what looked like a tuba and then it would roll down into a lock box. And when people put in huge sums that make literally a lot of noise based on all those coins hitting that metal. But then there was a woman Jesus wanted to make sure his apostles never forgot. A widow who went in and put St. Luke tells us two lepta. Lepta was a very thin coin almost valueless. Each lepta weighed meant about 1/3 of a penny. So she put 2/3 of a penny in. By today’s currency, it made almost no noise whatsoever because it was so thin. And Jesus said, “Notice this poor widow. Everybody else was putting in huge sums from their surplus, but she was giving what she absolutely needed to survive. She was putting in her whole livelihood.” And the church has never forgotten this widow to this day. Because what we give to the Lord isn’t just supposed to be from our surplus wealth, from what’s left over. It’s supposed to be generous. It’s supposed to come from what even we need because we recognize we need God even more and we want his kingdom even more than we want to save our life. It would have been absolutely excusable for this woman to have put in only one of those two lepta. It’s about 50% of all she owned. She wanted to give both because she really prioritized the work of God. What a beautiful example. What about you and me? How generously do we respond to the Lord? Do we just give him something? Do we give him a little? Do we say enough? Or do we try to give him all that we are and have in response to him who gave everything he was for us and our salvation down to the last drop of his blood on Calvary as we remembered yesterday on the solemnity of Christ the King. That’s the choice that faces us. St. Renee Goupil, St. Isaac Jogues, the North American martyr, St. Kateri Tekakwitha and every saint sought to give all the love they could muster to the Lord and they’re all praying for us to do the same.
God bless you.
The Gospel reading on which the reflection was based on:
Gospel
When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people
putting their offerings into the treasury
and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
He said, “I tell you truly,
this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”