Today’s Thoughts: “God loves the cheerful giver.” This little sentence from our first reading today St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians seems to really sum up today’s Gospel (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18). Like the challenge of yesterday Gospel focused on loving our enemies, today’s first reading focused on being “cheerful givers” can be at time rather difficult. Our humanness at times takes the cheerfulness our of giving. However, in our Gospel Jesus offers us the formula for being cheerful givers. All we have to do is be humble people of prayer and service.
In the Gospel we hear those familiar phrases. “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.” In each case the most important reward comes not in the world knowing that we do good things but in God knowing. I think the grace and the challenge of the message of our Gospel is that what we have is a gift from God and in sharing this gift it becomes far more profound than we ever thought it could be. However, for this gift to have power, impact and abundance we need to share it – not for our glory and praise but for the glory and praise of God. Have a blessed and holy Wednesday everyone!
1 Comment
Christine L from Austin
6/21/2023 05:06:12 pm
Thank you for this reflection. It reaffirms my personal mantra to give and love without expectation. It can be so difficult at times for sure but I do try to remind myself that all I have is because of God and meant to be shared.
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Fr. Paul R. Fagan, C.P. "Preacher on the Run"Just a few thoughts to help you on your journey through life...let me know from time to time what you think... Archives
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