Sneaking About and Doing Good

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Take care not to perform righteous deeds

in order that people may see them;"

A short blog entry for a change. (Crowd roars  its approval).  In the time of Jesus, it was a habit of some of the people that were better off than others to give to the poor.  Jesus was not pleased with this habit, not because he hated the poor, he hated the haughtiness of the rich who would send messengers ahead of them to announce to all that they should come and see a "good man" giving alms to the poor.  The haughtiness and pride of the rich man giving from his excess took away from the act of giving.  

Rich people often delude themselves into thinking that they own something, that it is theirs.  Everything we have, everything that we are, all the talents we have, all come from God.  We have nothing to give except what God has given us. So if we give the poor from our excess we are doing nothing special except sharing with our brothers and sisters.  When we do this, we should humbly realize that we are acting in the name of our Father.  We are seeing with His eyes and seeing a need we are fulfilling it and that is all.  We do not need to be thanked for that we do nor should we crave recognition from the masses of people around us.  Our charity should be between us and our neighbor and between us and God.  Do things to please God and disdain the applause of the crowd. The pleasure God receives will serve you well when you stand before Him in humility when He for His part recognizes the goodness of your deeds and humility in your heart and then raises you up in the eyes of the saints. 

Important:  Please pray for your departed relatives and friends who might be in Purgatory. If they are not there your prayers will help others.