Wednesday in the 11th Week of Ordinary Time, July 19, 2024

Matthew 6, 1-6; 16-18

Jesus said to his disciples: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to others to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”

The Lord teaches the people how to please Almighty God.  In doing so, he reveals how he himself acted when he gave alms, prayed, and fasted.

“Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them.”  The Lord Jesus performed innumerable righteous deeds while he walked the earth.  At the end of his Gospel, St. John tells us that if all these deeds were recorded, the whole world could not hold all the books that would have to be written.  Many of these deeds he did in public sight, and he did this in order to show forth God’s mercy to the world.  Many other deeds he did in such a way that few people knew of them.  But in none of these cases did Jesus cultivate crowds.  He did not issue invitations to a locality that he would be present to perform miracles.  If someone came to him amd asked to be healed, he did so without any show or fuss.  That is, he did not perform righteous deeds in order for people to see them, and thereby gin their applause.  Likewise, we ought to take care that he do our good deeds in the course of our day without drawing attention to ourselves, though we may draw attention to someone who needs more help than we can give.

“When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.”  The Evangelists show us Jesus praying often, and most of the time when he prays he does so at night, alone on a hill or mountain, even spending the whole night in prayer.  He does not make a show of it, even to his Apostles.  He seeks privacy for prayer even on the night before he died, in the Garden of Gethsemane.  There he brought three of his Apostles with him, but left them and went further to pray alone.  He does pray in public when it is appropriate, such as during the course of the Last Supper.  He prays in public also when he deems it necessary, as in John 11, 41-42 when he prays before he raises Lazarus from the dead, but even here, from the words it is plain that he prayed quietly.  If the Son of God prayed, how necessary it is for us to pray!  And the Lord tells us both how to pray and what to pray, giving us the Our Father!  It is no longer the custom for people put their religiosity on show by standing on street corners and praying in a loud voice, as was done in the Lord’s day, but what we can draw from the Lord’s instructions is to make prayer such a natural part of our lives that we do it continually throughout the day, asking God in the secret rooms of our hearts to help is, to forgive our sins, and to guide our actions.

“When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to others to be fasting.”  The Lord’s fasts were hidden so well that his enemies accused him of being a glutton and a drunkard (cf. Matthew 11, 19).  We seldom hear of the need to do penance, but it is an essential part of the spiritual life.  We all have the need to atone for our sins to the extent that we can, with Jesus filling up what is lacking due to our human limitations.  We should cultivate a sorrow for our sins that leads to our striving to make up for them.  The Church teaches that when we sin we ask God for forgiveness with sincerely contrite hearts.  Of the sin is mortal, we must do this in the Sacrament of Penance.  But merely saying we are sorry is not enough.  If we break a neighbor’s window, an apology is nice not insufficient.  We need to pay for repairs or the window’s replacement.  If we harm someone, we should apologize and ask how we can make up for it.  We do this humbly and when emotions have cooled.  When we offend God we should look for ways to please him apart from our regular pious practices.  And we should attend seriously to strengthening the virtue which will enable us to avoid this sin in the future.  We should strive to break bad habits if we have had the misfortune of falling into them.