” “"When one pays the wages to one’s employees; when hospitals or kindergartens have to do the accounts; when one digs a well in Africa in the Sahel region, or when in Mexico after the floods a destroyed Church is rebuilt", the passage one should bear in mind is the evangelical one of the offering of the widow who "threw into the treasure most of all", because she gave all she had". This was said by card. Paul Jozef Cordes, president of the Papal Council "Cor Unum", today, as he illustrated the Pope’s Lenten message to the press. The text of the evangelical pericope, went on the cardinal, "upsets those who work at a bank counter or run the finances of the Church", not only because it proves that "people, even with small gifts, can enable the Church to serve God and the neighbours in need" and that "ordinary people are often more generous than wealthy people". For Jesus, "the worth of our gift is measured not against the amounts printed on the notes. Its worth does not depend on the size of the purse from which the offering is taken, but on the thoughts and the intentions that drove one to give. The heart can turn the pence we give as a gift into a cheque that unexpectedly arouses amazement" (continued).
