Today, in sharp contrast with the masters of the law, the Gospel presents a simple and almost insignificant gesture on the part of a poor widow that provokes Jesus' admiration. The actual value of her donation is almost nil, but the woman's decision is admirable, heroic: she gives everything she has.

With this gesture, God and the others went ahead of her and of her own needs. She fully let herself in the hands of Providence. Jesus valued her generosity and her desire to praise God and help the poor, as the most important offering of all that had been made —perhaps, most ostentatiously— in that Temple.

—Salvation is to be found in the nucleus of our own conscience, when we decide to open ourselves to God and live at the disposal of mankind; and when the election value is not given by the quality or quantity of the work made, but by the purity of intention and loving generosity.