Why do you go to church? Why do you offer your time by volunteering at a soup kitchen or at other charitable places? Why do you pray the rosary? Why do you participate in a pilgrimage? Why do you give money to fight hunger and poverty? These are all wonderful things to do, but the most important question is why are you doing them? Jesus is clear today in the Gospel reading. If you do these things because you want to share your heart with God and others, and you don’t care about what others will say, then you are doing a wonderful and compassionate thing. But if people do charitable works or simply practice their faith to impress others, then, as Jesus said, they have received their reward already. We are called to do good things for God’s sake and our neighbor’s sake but not to impress others. Some celebrities do that quite often, at times they support people in need, but then they expect to be recorded and shown to the public, so others may speak well about them. They have received their reward. Our reward should not only be in this world, but in Heaven.
