Everyone in the world is gifted. Can we help people recognize those gifts and offer them to God by serving God's people? Is this true spiritual formation? If so, how are we forming each other in the faith?

The good religious people foreclose on the houses of widows (the poorest of the poor) while saying beautiful prayers. A widow gives everything to God while other only give a small portion. Who is pleasing to God in this picture?

Jesus eating with a tax collector????? Tax collectors were viewed as the most self-serving segment of the population of the time, currying favor with the Romans and exploiting their neighbors for their self-serving ends. Does Jesus have another way of life to offer Zacchaeusand to us?

If this sounds like the ever popular prosperity gospel, read it again. Paul is taking up a collection for the saints (read the poor) in Jerusalem. The indescribable gift we have received from God includes but is not limited to material goods. All the things God has given so generously are so we can give them away generously

Each of us carries a treasure chest with us containing the memories, values, hopes, fears, and numerous other life experiences that make us who we are. Can we offer those treasures to God just as the Magi offered theirs?

Even if we can't do everything, we can all do something. Let's do what we can do and stop worrying about the rest.