Saturday before Cheesefare; The Repose of our Venerable Father Constantine the Philosopher, in the monastic life, Cyril, Teacher of the Slavs; Our Venerable Father Auxentius; The Venerable Maron, Hermit and Wonderworker.
Hebrews 7:26-8:2; Romans 14:19-26; John 10:9-16; Matthew 6:1-13.
Read Matthew 6:1-13
Almsgiving tests whether our piety truly seeks God or whether we prefer human applause and glory. When generosity seeks an audience, it has already “received its reward” (Matt 6:2). Proper almsgiving is ordered to the Father, not to the building up of our own reputation; it is an act of faith and trust in the Lord that places treasure where “your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matt 6:4). The spiritual disciplines of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting are meant to express our love and devotion toward our Heavenly Father. As each of us has an inner relationship with the living God, so these acts are meant to be hidden: they reorient the heart toward communion with Him.
Secrecy is not hiddenness for its own sake, but the purification of desire. St. John Chrysostom insists: “It is not almsgiving that He seeks, but the absence of vainglory; for He said not simply, ‘Do not do it,’ but, ‘Do not do it before men’” (Homilies on Matthew 19.2). The external act remains, yet its audience changes. What is relinquished is not gift alone, but the desire for public recognition.
St. Augustine sharpens the interior demand: “Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand does. What is the left hand but the desire of human praise?” (Sermon on the Mount 2.2.8). The drama unfolds within the heart. Even silent generosity can be corrupted by an inner longing for public applause.
Almsgiving, properly ordered, is an ascetical act. It trains the heart to love without advertisement and to trust the hidden judgment of God rather than the immediate affirmation of others. In this way charity becomes prayer, and the gift is returned to its source: the one God and Father who sees in secret and rewards openly.