In recent days, I’ve noticed a common refrain among friends and acquaintances when I mention that we’re hosting a 97th birthday party for my Mom.
“Wow!!” they say. “Wow!”
And most are inclined to linger a bit in their amazement when they learn that my Mom (who is actually “our” Mom…and “our” Grandma…and “our” Great-Grandma) still lives on her own…still cooking, baking, praying and warming the hearts of visitors with her hospitality just about every day of the week.
Wow, they say. Which I’ve come to believe can be loosely translated as “Alleluia”: Praise God, for showering tender mercies on this beloved widow. Praise God, for her ability to reflect that divine love back onto everyone she meets … even down to the third generation of her immediate family.
Great-Grandma Georgia (or G-G-G, as she’s come to be known in our family gatherings) is surely a Wow! Kind of Gal. Her storytelling skills are a marvel; her exploits in the kitchen, the stuff of legends; her love of song, ever a family treasure.
But G-G-G – this Wow! Kind of Gal – has subtle side, too, one best viewed in the quiet moments that often mark her days. In the quiet, she often speaks of God’s providence, of God’s presence, of God’s profound mystery.
G-G-G has known suffering and hunger in her life. (Indeed, last night she remarked about the crowd of 13 around our “adult table”…how it matched the daily crowd she experienced at the family table growing up, 11 siblings and two parents, making do during much leaner times.) Still, there’s no bitterness in the memory. Only trust, the trust born of experience.
Like the widows we encounter in scripture today, G-G-G knows that trust in God comes with a cost – including perhaps the cost of financial uncertainty.
She knows, and she notices. She notices how in the gospel reading, “[Jesus] sat down opposite the treasury…”
That’s where dignity and incalculable worth are to be found: not in huge sums or material abundance, but in the widow’s mite. In the knowledge that, no matter what temporal circumstances are flung her way, she (and we) can trust … and then be ever caught up … and lifted up … in the loving gaze of Jesus.
Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.
IHS
With Us Still 
Well done John, such a blessing🙏
Well said John. What a treasure your Mom is. Loved growing up as a neighbor to your beautiful family. I was just watching the movie Matt did when your mom and dad had a lot of family there. Dad was talking to Tony and Matt was talking to mom. Such great,great memories.
Right back at you , Peggy. We were so blessed to grow up in that place, at that time…and with such wonderful neighbors!
Happy 97th birthday to Aunt Georgia! Please give her a big hug from us.
Will do, Pat!
Thanks, John.
To my discredit, I don’t often click on your links when they pop up in my feed, but I am glad I did so today.
Should God bless me withe as many healthy years as G-G-G, hope I can also be a sign to others in the same way.
Good to hear from you, John…and I’m glad you clicked! 😇