"...For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood."In the Gospel passage for this Sunday, we read about an incident that caught the attention of Jesus while he was in the temple teaching. Perhaps taking a break from instructing the crowds, Jesus found himself near the temple treasury where he observed people making their monetary contribution into the offering box. And as he watched people of all walks of life make their contribution, he noticed a poor widow put into the offertory box her contribution of two coins (two pennies). Jesus was touched by her gesture so much so that he decided to use it as a teaching reference as he pointed out to his disciples how the poor widow, despite only making an offering of two pennies, had in fact made a bigger contribution in comparison to the other contributors. It must have been a remark that left the disciples confused and lost for words. 
Like us who are reading about it today and trying to figure out just what it was that Jesus was talking about, perhaps the disciples had a tough time figuring out how an offering of two pennies beat all the other offerings. And just like we do with the other teachings of Jesus which we try to understand or interpret out of their context, it might be that we have found ourselves apologetically quoting or using the above remark made by Jesus to either advance or defend our own positions when it comes to offertory or contributions, be it within or outside the church. Furthermore, we can even at times read too much into the Jesus’ remark by saying that Jesus praised the poor widow for her contribution while appearing to downplay the contributions made by the rest, especially the wealthy. When we do that, we easily lose the point that Jesus wanted to pass across. As the account makes it clear, all that Jesus did was to make an observation: an observation out of which he proceeded to give a teaching. Jesus did heap a praise on the poor widow for her contribution. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that he condemned the wealthy. The wealthy did absolutely no wrong in contributing out of their surplus. As long as the surplus they contributed was not fraudulently gotten, it was still a fruit of their sweat. And so the question that we must ask ourselves is this: what point/teaching was Jesus trying to pass across?
I tend to think that the focus of Jesus' observation is to be found at the end of the statement:  she contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.For some reason that is unknown to us, Jesus was aware that the woman was both poor and a widow. As a poor widow, the woman might not only have come to the temple in order to pray but also to beg for alms. The temple was a good place to look for alms since those who frequented the temple were certainly aware of the laws that instructed them to be charitable towards the poor, the widows, and the orphans. However, as it turned out, this poor widow had another important reason for coming to the temple on this particular day. In spite of her poverty, she was aware of her duties and responsibilities towards the temple. She understood what the temple represented and the important role that it played in the life of her community. She was not bothered by the thought that her offering was not going to match that of the others. All that she wanted to do was to fulfill her religious obligation in connection to the temple. She didn’t let her poverty become an excuse for she understood what making an offertory was. For as Jesus remarked later on, she gave her entire livelihood. 
What is our attitude towards offertory? How do we understand offertory? Jesus presents to us the poor widow as a reminder that offertory is not how much we offer as to what we offer. The poor widow was not ashamed of her two pennies because she understood that offertory is  a sacred gesture in the sense that it points to something that is deeper and greater 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 disciples.