Love the Lord, All You Faithful

June 18, 2008
Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

By Melanie Rigney

Love the Lord, all you faithful. The Lord protects the loyal, but repays the arrogant in full. (Psalms 31:24)

Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. (Matthew 6:1)

Piety
Lord, Your words convict me of my arrogance. Help me to do good in Your name, not so that I may attract accolades.

Study
Today's Readings

I can be pretty strident about brevity in communication. For example, a fundraising letter set to appear in the bulletin was shared at a recent council meeting at my parish. I was quick to grumble that the text was twice as long as anyone would read. You see, I think of myself as the Mark of the Tripod Foursome. I wish my thoughts and words flowed as beautifully and poetically as those of Father Joe, Tony, and Beth do, but we all have different gifts. Mine is writing tightly and clearly.

For that reason, I was struck by the necessity in today’s Gospel reading of three words: “in order that.” They’re words I delete from almost every manuscript, essay, white paper, and other document I edit for the government or on a freelance basis. Worthless verbosity, I’ve always said. Try it yourself; 99 times out of 100, you can eliminate them without changing what’s being said whatsoever.

But the phrase is crucial in Matthew 6:1. Christ isn’t saying here that no one can ever know we’ve done good. Rather, he advises us against doing good “in order that,” for the purpose that, others see it. That’s what meant by “secret” as it appears several times later in the reading; not that our works are for naught if someone finds out, but rather that we are to remain pure and focused in the reason we perform them. In my case, I told myself the desire to have stronger, more effective fundraising letters was behind my comment, but in reality, it was all about grandstanding—and arrogance.

May God give us the wisdom and strength to do good without expecting a payback from Him, our colleagues, or ourselves. Let us perform righteous deeds with open, loving hearts because we strive to be righteous, and for no other reason.

Action
Where is your arrogance in performing righteous deeds? In the way you provide service in your parish? In the way you talk about your work accomplishments? In the way you interact with the disenfranchised of our society? Journal about your arrogance, and come up with ways in which you can do these acts to praise God and for no other reason.