Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18

DON'T BE LIKE THE HYPOCRITES...

The Gospel gives us warnings today. A kind of "How Not To" guide to almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. I admit it!  I have searched for my name in lists of donors and felt that satisfying "there I am...so good of me" feeling. I've prayed with just a bit too much umph in a communal setting as if there were some kind of prayer competition. With regards to fasting, well I don't even try as I should. 

But what I take away from this day's reading is a heightened desire to be so unselfconsciously in love with God that gifting my life is just who I am. I want to just do because I am. Perhaps being a hypocrite is like living one's life as a performance, always worrying about the audience. This is a ripe context for stiff distinctions. And being an authentic Christian disciple is about encounters and relationships grounded in mutuality, where distinctions are interesting but not telling. 

Lord, as I travel on, make my life a living prayer...without my really noticing. 


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