THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Wednesday in the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time, 2023

2Cor 9:6-11

Ps 112

Matt 6:1-6,16-18

Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious

Take care

The gospel reading this morning (Mt 6:1-6, 16-18) reminds us that there is always a danger that our good deeds can end up being quite self-serving, whether it is the good deed of almsgiving, praying, or fasting. Jesus calls on us not to do our good deeds to attract the notice, the attention, of others. Our focus in doing what we do is not so much other people and how they see us but God. 

Three times the gospel reading refers to the Father who sees all that is done in secret. We live our lives in the conscious awareness of the presence of God with whom we have an intimate relationship through faith and baptism. The Father who sees in secret is not to be understood as a kind of Big Brother watching us. Rather, Jesus, God with us, has promised to be with us to the end of time out of love for us. 

Our good deeds are our loving response to God’s love for us through Jesus. In all we say and do our focus is to be on the Lord who is always present to us, rather than on ourselves. In this way, we give expression in our lives to that beatitude that declares, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, give me a lively faith, a firm hope, a fervent charity, and a great love for you. Amen.

+Remain blessed