By Deanna Bartalini
“your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” ~ Matthew 6:4b
Both Mass readings today point to the same thing, God knows and sees what we are doing and why we are doing it. Punto e basta, as my father would say, which means “and That’s that.” What more do we need to know about our heavenly Father and what is important to him?
It is not our mighty deeds, generous donations, and well-said prayers that impress God. It is our very selves, given to him in response to the great love we have been given. Performing the correct action for the wrong reasons is not going to help. We cannot go about our days hoping we look holy, God notices, and we get to heaven. Our goal is to live as holy people with hearts turned toward God, follow Jesus, and are in tune with the Holy Spirit.
We Cannot Fake-out God
My children played basketball for many years, and part of the strategy at times was to distract the other team and get them to think one thing was going to happen, but really, something else was planned. We may think we can do this to our Father. But we cannot. He is God and all-knowing.
God knows our souls and minds. We cannot fake him out by saying things like, “This is the last time,” “I’ll do it later,” or “I need to look good in this situation.” God sees through false piety. We cannot keep acting as if we love God and want to serve him without our minds, bodies, and souls being aligned.
Prayer
Help me, Lord, to love, serve, and honor you not only in word and deed but with a mind, body, and soul all in accord with your will.
Call to Action
Consider all the ways in which you serve God in your parish, work, and family, and check that each of the activities is for God.
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Beautiful insight Deanna. God truly does know our hearts. For so many years I accomplished many good things but did not ask God for guidance or acknowledge Him when the task was over. I thought my heart was in the right place but something was missing. He showed me that the tasks were not what was important it was the people I served that were what was important. God is so good! And May He bless you always.
It is a lesson I have to remember often, it’s easy to get caught up in the things, instead of the people.