William Selvaraj csc –
Readings: 2 Kgs 2: 1, 6-14; Mt 6: 1-6, 16-18
The gospel passage invites us to set the foundation for our spiritual life through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving from the heart, which is seen by our Father, the creator, and author of our lives. Prayer will help deepen our relationship with God and community members by renouncing conflict, jealousy, hatred, gossip, carelessness, and insensitivity to others.
Fasting will help us love God by making sacrifices to understand the pangs of hunger. Almsgiving calls us to love others sincerely. Freely we have received, freely we are to give, without our left hand knowing what our right hand gives.
I perceive these three classical practices in a practical way. I look at prayer as the channel through which I can connect myself to the Lord in building a strong relationship. I see almsgiving as a way of relating to the poor and needy who come to our house for help; by either giving some grains or medicines.
It also calls me to love others sincerely by making sacrifices in life. I feel fasting is a means of relating with myself and become aware of my desires, wishes, likes, dislikes, feelings, and emotions. It helps me to love God and others by making some sacrifices.
In the first reading, we see Elijah was rewarded for his good deeds. We need to do deeds both externally and internally. We seek recognition in public when we do something great. But God looks at our heart.
We need not worry about getting appreciation from others. God knows what we have done. As we do all these three classical practices faithfully, God would surely reward us as he rewarded Elijah. Let us examine ourselves- Do I seek recognition or am I doing what God wants me to do?