Father Rick’s Two-Minute Homily for Wednesday, 11th Week in Ordinary Time
June 21, 2023, Matthew 6:1-6,16-18
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062123.cfm
Intention Is Everything
I have always wanted to be a diocesan priest in the Diocese of Peoria. However, this desire changed when I started praying the Maxims of Christian Perfection by Blessed Antonio Rosmini. The first maxim is simple but powerful and addresses today’s gospel – To desire only and without limit to please God, that is, to be just. Justice means giving someone what is their due. For example, if we buy a product like gas, bread, or eggs, we are just if we pay the amount due. However, the owner is unjust if the price is raised to profit someone while others suffer.
Giving someone what their due begins with God. The little prayer, “All I want to do is please you, O Lord,” quickly makes my intention pure. Think of the blue sky. It is always there, regardless of how many clouds are blocking it. So our desire to please God and treat others with respect is innate in us. It is always there. What others say and do to us doesn’t remove our “blue sky.” Mercy, honesty, and kindness remain because they are the heart of Christ Jesus in us. Listen to how Mother Teresa of Calcutta lived. If she can please God without limit, we can open our hearts to that grace in all situations.
Gospel Challenge:
“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
St. Teresa of Calcutta
“Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them.” A pure heart, an honorable intention, removes all clouds.
Fr. Rick Pilger, IC
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