“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them;
for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 6:1
I have a monthly salary that compensates my work. It is a fixed amount. From this amount taxes are withheld, tithes and offerings are given, bills are paid, basic necessities are bought, assistance is given to those in need and whatever is left goes to a savings account.
Way above my salary are heavenly blessings. It is a non-fixed amount . These include fullness of life, health, an incredibly loving family, deep peace, boundless joy, fulfillment, a thrilling vocation, an eternal inheritance and so on. It is infinitely more valuable than my salary.
The Gospel today offers us a choice: human compensation or heavenly reward. If you give alms, pray or fast for public approval, then the applause is your compensation. If you give alms, pray or fast in secret, a heavenly reward awaits. Do the math: which would you prefer? This Lent, give alms secretly. Pray more in secret. Fast secretly. As you do so, prepare yourself for immeasurable rewards from heaven! - Moses of The Living Water.
Lord, I want to know You, love You and serve You more this Lent. Help me to give more alms, pray more and fast more – secretly – in the coming weeks.
Amen.
WISE WORDS: “Success lies, not in achieving what you aim at, but in aiming at what you ought to achieve, and pressing forward, sure of achievement here,
or of not here, hereafter.” - Robert Forman Horton
