He commands them: “Take heed that you do not practice your righteousness before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise you will have no reward with your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 6:1). But if we ought not to do our righteousness before men, what is it that he said above (Mt 5:16): “So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven”? For how will they see our good works, if we do not dare to do them before those very people who see them? For if we do them, we shall have no reward.
Let us therefore see what is meant by “in order that you may be seen by them,” for in this the whole question is resolved. For he does not lose his reward, as it might seem to be said, who does his righteousness before men, but rather he who does it for this reason, namely, in order to be seen by men. For the one who does it in order to be seen by men does not seek the reward of righteousness, but human praise and vain glory and the favor of the people. Therefore he has no reward with God, since he receives a vain reward of praise among men.
Therefore, when you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. I therefore ask: why have they received their reward? Is it because they gathered the poor by the sound of a trumpet, which perhaps they could not so easily have assembled otherwise? Or because they did this in synagogues and in the streets, where, since the place was more spacious, it seemed it could be done better? Not for that reason at all. Why then? Do you wish to hear why? Because they did this in order not to receive a reward from God, but in order to be honored by men. Such, therefore, was their love of praise and glory, that they gave alms and yet did not have a reward.
Mt 6:2-4 How then ought we to give alms? It follows: “But when you give alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” What then do we understand by the right hand, or what by the left? For if we wish to understand our physical hands in these things, I do not know how the work of one hand is understood by the other; for the understanding is not in the hands but in the mind. Finally, why should the right hand hide its work from the left, which is so harmonious with it and so faithfully assists it in all things?
Something else therefore must be understood by right and left. For our love of God is the right, but the left is love of praise. For the one leads to the sheep, the other leads to the goats. Remember that Gospel in which the sheep are placed on the right, but the goats on the left. If you give alms, do it out of love for God, who has moved you to do this; this, then, is your right hand. Let not the left know—that is, love of praise. Do not seek from this the favor of the crowd, from which you seek to please God. Even if you could have both at the same time, you will not have them if you desire to have them. Thus, in every work of ours, let the left not know what the right is doing, if we do it not from love of praise, but from love of God and of righteousness.
Hence it is also said: “that your alms may be in secret.” For whether you give alms in the synagogue or in the streets and public places, you nevertheless give them in secret, if, in doing so, you desire to be seen not by men but by God. On the other hand, the one who does something in secret but desires to be seen, and seeks praise and glory from it, does not in fact do it in secret, since he does not want what he does to be secret; and it is just as much for him as if he did it in public.
But God, who sees in secret and to whom nothing secret is hidden, who also searches hearts and sees thoughts, will repay each one according to his works.
Mt 6:5-6 And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, who love to pray standing in the synagogues and at the corners of the streets, so that they may be seen by men. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut the door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
For all these likenesses almost signify the same thing and can be explained and understood in one and the same way. For no one sins because he prays in a synagogue, which is a house of prayer; nor is it a sin to pray in the streets. Why then is it forbidden? Hear what follows and you will understand: “so that they may be seen by men.” For what it means to wish to be seen by men is already clear.
CONTINUE
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