"...For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood." This was Jesus' observation at the crowd's contribution at the temple. We sometimes get taken over by emotion and begin apologetically using this statement to either advance or defend our own stands when it comes to money matters within and without the church. Moreover, we sometimes "exaggerate" the statement by saying Jesus praised the poor widow for her contribution. All that Jesus did was to make an observation: an observation out of which he proceeded to give a teaching. Neither did he condemn the wealthy. The wealthy did absolutely no wrong in contributing out of their surplus, because even that surplus, we assume, was a fruit of their sweat. I tend to think that the focus of Jesus' observation is to be found towards the end of the statement: she contributed all she had, her whole livelihood. What is our attitude towards offertory? How do we understand offertory? For it is not how much we offer as to what we offer. Church offertory is but a sacred gesture in the sense that it points to a deeper and greater "thing" than itself. Offertory is about ourselves. It is ourselves that should be the offertory. As a matter of fact, this is what we do whenever we gather together in a sacred space to celebrate the Eucharist. And the right and perfect offertory is the total offering of ourselves, our livelihood. The poor widow was able to do this because she had nothing to lose. Her entire life was already a dedication to God because she looked up to God for sustenance. The poor widow here represents all those who have this attitude. Not all the actually poor have this attitude, just as not all the wealthy lack this attitude. Jesus saw the attitude in the poor widow, and that is what he wanted to emphasize to his audience.