(Please read the Scripture passage before reading the homily.)
A pagan Roman philosopher, named Seneca, once said, “Whoever wants to publicize his virtue labors not for virtue but for glory.” Almsgiving, prayer and fasting concern how we relate to God. Jewish, Muslim and Christian people use almsgiving, prayer and fasting. All peoples would probably agree that what we do for show is not virtue, but self-promotion.
Almsgiving acknowledges that everything we have we do not own. What we think we own is really owned by God who made it and gives it to us to use. When God gives more than we need, God wants us to share with those who have not. It is a balance of interdependence; we need one another: the rich need the poor and the poor need the rich. St Francis of Assisi would say that the one who refuses alms to another, steals from that other what rightfully belongs to that other.
Our prayers must be simple. We do not pray to impress God, but rather we pray out of our need. It is not in long prayers that may impress others, but in the sincere prayer of the heart that speaks the truth of our experience to God.
Fasting humbles us before God. It can strengthen our prayer. It shows its value and fruitfulness in almsgiving. An ancient Jewish text from Babylonia has this statement, “The merit of a fast is in proportion to the charity dispensed. It is something like saying that, “Whatever money you saved by giving up something you should give as alms.”
What about the Lord’s Prayer? It is given in the portion omitted from our passage today. It shall form the reading for Thursday. There it can receive greater attention. In the Gospel, it serves as an example of prayer that anyone can use. In the Gospel, it also seems to be an insert that interrupts the flow of the teaching on almsgiving, prayer and fasting. To say that is in an insert is not to say that it does not belong, because it does belong and is an integral part of the Gospel according to Matthew. In a sense the Our Father is a summary of the whole Gospel.
A pagan Roman philosopher, an ancient Jewish text from Babylonia, and a medieval saint and other religious traditions have contributed to the Lord’s teaching about almsgiving, prayer and fasting. It is now up to us to live the teaching.