Wednesday. [I Pet. 4:1–11; Mark 12:28–37]

One lawyer asked the Lord: Which is the first commandment of all? The Lord answered: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these (Mark 12:28, 30–31). This also serves as a supplement to the portrayal of the hidden man of the heart. Sanctifying the Lord is his spirit, and love—his soul; all the other virtues are his various members—arms, legs, eyes, ears, tongue. Remembrance of this is very needful, because it sometimes happens that, considering the doing of good to be the final virtue, people think they can get by with only this, not thinking about the Lord, and forgetting about love. Doing good without faith and a desire to please God is not holy; it is like a house that has not been blessed, or a room without icons. Without love, the doing of good is like a building filled with lifeless sculptures, succumbing to mustiness and mould. Pay attention to this, each of you; and setting out to create a new person in yourself, try to place him before the Lord, who is without any flaw.

Thursday. [I Pet. 4:12–5:5; Mark 12:38–44]

 The widow placed in the treasury (the church collection box) two mites (a half-kopeck piece, approximately); but the Lord said that she cast in more than anyone, although the others were casting in rubles and tens of rubles. What gave extra weight to her mite? It is the disposition with which the offering was made. Do you see the difference between the doing of good without soul, by habit, and the doing of good with soul and heart? It is not the external aspects of a deed which give it value, but the inner disposition. It may happen that a deed which is outstanding in every regard has no value whatsoever before God, yet a deed which is insignificant in appearance is valued greatly. What follows from this is evident in and of itself. But do not take it into your head to be careless about external things, intending to limit yourself only to inner things. That widow would not have received approval if she had said to herself, “I too have the desire to put in money—but what should I do? I only have two mites. If I give them away, I myself will be left with nothing. She had the desire and acted upon it as well, committing her life into the hands of God. Nobody would have condemned her If she had put in nothing—neither people, nor God. But then she would not have revealed such a disposition, which singled her out from the ranks of others and made her renowned throughout the entire Christian world.