A GOOD FRIEND'S FUNERAL HOMILY

 

     My good friend, Richard Douglas “Dubby” or “Dick” Thurman, born on April 8th, 1937, passed away peacefully at 87 on July 4,  2024, surrounded by his loving family.

While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.

Luke 15:20

Over the Christmas holidays, a couple of years ago, I got Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. It is about the opportunity to watch the 2007 movie, The Bucket List, starring two terminally ill men on a road trip with a “wish list” of things to do before they “kicked the bucket.” Since I had just officially retired, it struck a chord with me.

In one of my very favorite scenes, they are both sitting on one of the pyramids in Egypt. Morgan Freeman’s character says to Jack Nicholson’s character, “You know the ancient Egyptians had a beautiful belief about death. When their souls got to the entrance to heaven…the gods asked them two questions. Their answer determined whether they were admitted or not. “Have you found joy in your life?” “Has your life brought joy to others?”

When Faye Thurman asked me to preside and preach at Dick’s funeral Mass today, I thought these two questions would be two great questions I imagine Dick being asked when he arrived at the gates of heaven.  “Did you find joy in your life?” “Did your life bring joy to others?” Jesus, of course, put it this way! Has God’s love for you brought you happiness? Has God’s love for you inspired you to share that happiness with others? I am confident that he is able to answer both questions with a resounding “yes.” I know from talking to him in depth that his life, especially after he “discovered his new religion,” has certainly brought joy to his life and, from what I heard around the bed right after he died, his life has certainly brought joy to the lives of his family and friends!  I heard Faye says more than once, “I am going to miss him so much!” I am sure his children feel the same way! I heard his grandchildren say, and all verbally agreed, “He was the best grandfather any grandchild ever had!” How good is that? I got an e-mail from a friend of Faye’s to whom Faye said about me, “Dick loved Father Ron!” After so many breakfasts, health crises, prayers shared, support for my projects and laughs together, talking about our humble beginnings and our Honorary Doctorates from Bellarmine, I can truly say he brought joy into my life as well. It was great to hear that my life had enriched his!  

What we are talking about here, with those two questions, is the living out of the Great Commandment. The "great commandment" of Jesus says, "Love your neighbor as yourself," not "Love your neighbor rather than yourself!" In other words, if you have no love for yourself, you will have no love to share with your neighbor!  You cannot give anybody else anything, if you don't have anything to give! As I learned in High School Latin class, "Nemo dat quod not habet." "If you ain't got it, you can't give it!" Only those who have joy in their own lives are able to bring joy into the lives of others. Only those who love themselves can love others. Only those who know how God’s loves, are inspired to love another, as they are loved!

Only those who know how God’s loves can love another as they are loved! How does God love? From 54 years of preaching, I have learned sadly that many so-called “religious” people don’t know squat about how God loves! That’s why I picked the story I read from the gospel today. Religious people who don’t know how God loves, usually mis-name this story. They call it the story of the Prodigal Son! The better name for it is the story of the Loving Father! The wayward son is not the hero of this story simply because he shaped up and came crawling back home. Neither is the uptight and pouting “perfect” son the hero simply because he stayed home, kept the rules and did what he was obligated to do! The real hero of this story is that love-crazy father who loved both of his sons – the one who got down with the pigs and the one who stayed home and did what was expected of him! You and I are one or the other of those two sons – either the wayward son who wasted his money on prostitutes and had to get a job feeding pigs or the self-righteous, uptight, religious conformist who stayed home but probably wanted, in his heart of hearts, to do some of the wild things his little brother did while he was gone!

The father in this parable stands for God! In other words, Jesus tells the people who heard this parable that God is just like the father in this story. That is why the rejects and marginalized of society flocked to Jesus! He preached the “good news” of God’s unconditional love! That is why the religious conformists hated Jesus and had him killed for this kind of talk! They preached the “bad news” of God’s conditional love, which caused people to run away from them!

So, who does God love and how does God love? God loves everybody and he loves everybody, no ands, if or buts about it! No, God does not love the evil we do, but like a good parent, he doesn’t quit loving us and abandons us when we do bad things! If the whole Bible was lost except this one story, we would still have the essence of all that Jesus came to this earth to tell us! The good and the bad alike are loved by God and we too are called to love each other, our friends as well as our enemies, as God loves us! Remember that, because there will be a test at the end of the homily to see if you heard what this story is teaching us! I believe Dick knew this truth and he would want you to know it as well!  

Dick came into my life toward the end of his life. He admitted that was not a “religious” man early on, he might have even compared himself to the prodigal son, but he “discovered” religion when he was faced with kidney disease. He told me he was inspired by his sister’s faith. He and Faye started coming to the Cathedral with Jim and Dot Patterson. I remember praying with him for a “miracle” kidney donor and looking for printed prayers to give him to encourage him. Friends, our prayers were answered and a ‘miracle” was granted! I received him into the church and I have been privileged to give him 4 of our 7 sacraments: confirmation, holy eucharist, penance and anointing of the sick! He was already baptized and married or he would have received all of them except ordination! We met regularly, talked about spiritual things, shared prayers and throughout, he took his new catholic faith very seriously! It brought him joy! Yes, it brought him joy! He brought me joy, as well, watching his spiritual life take root and grow!

Finally, friends, the parable today, applied to Dick, is this! Just like the father in that gospel story who loved both his sons, the good one and the bad one, God love the old Dick and the new Dick. Dick may have discovered religion at the end of his life, but God had been there all along - loving him all the time – both while he was away and when he came home! Today, I can imagine Jesus saying to him these familiar words, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master!” ‘Enter into my joy because you welcomed that joy into your own life and you passed that joy on into the life of your family, your friends, your neighbors and your fellow men and women!’

Congratulations, Dick! You made it across the finish line! Like Faye kept saying at the hospital, we are really going to miss you, but someday we hope to see you again! In the meantime, pray for us and we will pray for you! We say that because he used to say the Creed with us every Sunday when we all professed together that “we believe in the communion of saints,” which is to say that we believe in a holy and unbroken connection between the living and the dead! 

Finally, let me say this – something I try to say at every funeral. Friends, if there are any slights, hard feelings or neglect between you and Dick Thurman or between Dick Thurman and you, let it go! God has forgiven him! God has forgiven you! He did his best and so did you! He is at peace and so can you be at peace! Let it go!

Now for the test! So that you won’t flunk, I am going to give you a hint! It’s one word and it begins with an “e!” Here goes!

FATHER KNOTT: Who does God love?

CONGREGATION: Everybody!

FATHER KNOTT: Correct! You get an A+! Now, go love each other as God loves Dick Thurman and you!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

CRICTICAL and COMMITTED

The Birth of John the Baptist

Given at the Little Sister of the Poor Home for the Aged

June 24, 2024

When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child

she gave birth to a son. They asked his father what he

wished him to be called. He asked for a tablet and wrote,

“John is his name.” The child grew and became strong in spirit,

and he was in the desert until the day of his manifestation to Israel.

Luke 1:57-66,80

 

 

He had a beard, so he can't be all bad. But in spite of his beard, John the Baptist has never been one of my favorite saints. Screaming men who wear fur and eat bugs make me very nervous. They are not the type of person you could sit out on the deck and have a beer with. Before you open the can, they would be giving you a lecture on the evils of drinking.

Since I have gotten older and wiser; I have begun to appreciate John a little more. In fact, maybe he could be a role model for today's American Catholic. John the Baptist stands out as a believer who is both critical and committed, the two essential ingredients most needed in today's church. He, above all, seems to have found a balance between those two poles.

As our church continues to undergo massive transformation, the tension between the left and the right continues to produce anxiety in the hearts of believers everywhere. It seems that zealots at both ends of the spectrum are claiming to own the truth. Somehow, we must cooperate and give up our competition, separatism, and fragments of the truth. Maybe John the Baptist can teach us to ignore zealots of every stripe and listen to the less shrill voices of reason and joy. Maybe we can find some common ground between the hypercritical and the blindly committed. Maybe John can teach us to be both critical and committed.

Criticism, without commitment, is cruelty. There is a growing number of Catholic people who have moved to the edges or left the church altogether to take potshots at the church from their safe positions of smug superiority. They have their well-documented lists of flaws and sins to justify their withdrawal from active church life and are willing to point them out on cue. They are like the people who look at a thorny bush with a single flower and see a thornbush rather than a rosebush. Behind their superior attitude is a belief that others are responsible for the health of the church, and they will not grace the church with their presence until it conforms to their point of view.

Just as dangerous are those who are committed without being critical. Even Pope John Paul II, when he was still Cardinal Wojtyla, wrote in 1969: “Conformism means the death of any community; a loyal opposition is a necessity in any community.” Blind commitment without question is also unhealthy for the church. There are those among us who would have us believe that anything our leaders say or do should be followed without question, without hesitation. Sometimes, the church's best friends are those who criticize it.

Criticism without commitment is cruelty. Commitment without criticism is lazy, sentimental, and infantile. What is needed is the spirit of John the Baptist. He was both critical and committed. What we really need today is people who care enough and love enough to raise some questions. We need committed people who are willing, in the words of Saint Paul, to "profess the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15). Those who drop out and attack from the outside are no help.  Those who stay and bury their heads in blind conformity are dangerous and destructive. What we need are people who are committed but vigilant and attentive, knowing in their hearts that this old church requires, in the words of Pope Paul VI, “that continual reformation of which she always has need.”

 

 

 

A SPECIAL CELEBRATION AT THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR

MOTHER PROVINCIAL JULIE, L.S.P.

Visiting From the Chicago Provincial House of the Little Sisters of the Poor

Palatine, Illinois

Celebrating Her 25th Anniversary of Vows

Part of my "retirement plans" was to volunteer regularly at St. Joseph Home for the Elderly, operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor, here in Louisville. 

Sister Julie's Family and Relatives

Among the Sisters at this table, there are Sisters from Kenya, the Philippines and the South Pacific islands. 

LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR
“Sister Julie’s 25th Jubilee”
Rev. Ronald Knott
June 8, 2024

This is my commandment: love one another as I loved you.

John 15:12

Over the Christmas holidays, a couple of years ago, I got the opportunity to watch the 2007 movie, The Bucket List, starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. It is about two terminally ill men on a road trip with a “wish list” of things to do before they “kicked the bucket.” Since I had just officially retired, it struck a chord with me.

In one of my very favorite scenes, they are both sitting on one of the pyramids in Egypt. Morgan Freeman’s character says to Jack Nicholson’s character, “You know the ancient Egyptians had a beautiful belief about death. When their souls got to the entrance to heaven…the gods asked them two questions. Their answer determined whether they were admitted or not. “Have you found joy in your life?” “Has your life brought joy to others?”

When Sister Julie asked me to preach today, I thought these two questions would be two great questions to propose to her as she reflected on her first 25 years as a Little Sister of the Poor! “Have I found joy in my life?” “Has my life brought joy to others?” Jesus, of course, put it this way! Has God’s love for me brought me happiness? Has God’s love for me inspired me to bring happiness to others? I am confident that she is able to answer both questions with a resounding “yes.” Her life as a Little Sister of the Poor has certainly brought joy to her life and her life as a Little Sister of the Poor has certainly brought joy to the lives of those she has served!

What we are talking about here basically is Sister Julie’s living out of the Great Commandment. The "great commandment" of Jesus says, "Love your neighbor as yourself," not "Love your neighbor rather than yourself!" In other words, if you have no love for yourself, you will have no love to share with your neighbor! You cannot give anybody else anything, if you don't have anything to give! As I learned in High School Latin class, "Nemo dat quod not habet." "If you ain't got it, you can't give it!" Only those who know God’s love can love another as they are loved!

To love oneself, one has to be dedicated to wholeness of "mind, body and spirit." We can also call it being dedicated to one’s "education, health and spirituality." Whichever words you prefer, the task is to fill your mind with truth, fill your body with a balance of healthy food and exercise and fill your spirit with help from your "higher power."  If you "fall in love" with pursing those three things in your own life, you will have an abundance of love to give to others. 

Sir Ranulph Fiennes makes a great point when he said, “There is no such thing as “bad weather,” just “inappropriate clothing.” We can complain about the weather or how bad the world is, but it comes down to us taking the necessary personal precautions to survive and thrive in the world as it is! If it's cold, we wear a coat and hat! If it is weak, crooked and selfish, then we make sure we are personally strong, honest and communally focused! If the world is filled with ignorant, unhealthy and materialistic people, then we make sure we are individually educated, healthy and spiritually sound! 

Alexis de Tocqueville was so right when he said this about personal responsibility and how it affects the society we live in when he said something like this: ‘A nation cannot remain strong when every citizen belonging to it is individually weak; just as no religious community, family, marriage or parish can be strong if it is totally made up of cowardly and enfeebled individuals.’

Taking personal responsibility is what it means to “love oneself.” That is part of the great commandment, the part that brought joy into the life of Sister Julie. However, that is only half of the Great Commandment. The other half is to “love your neighbor” – in other words to being competent in “bringing joy into the life of others.”

When I preached recently about the Good Shepherd, I noted that there were two possible words for “good” in the Greek text – agathos and kalos. Agathos means “good” as in “holy,” but that is not the word used for a “good shepherd.” The words used there is kalos, meaning “good” as in “good at something” – “competent”, if you will!

Sister Julie did not become a Little Sister of the Poor to merely bring herself joy. She became a Little Sister of the Poor to bring joy to the lives of others. To do that, she needed to become “agathos” and “kalos” – personally “good” and “competent at serving” the elderly poor! Just as no community like the Little Sisters of the Poor can be successful in its mission of service to the elderly poor if every Sister in it is personally weak and incompetent.  Each member needs to be both “good” and “good at it.”  Being a member of this community should bring joy to each individual member and each member of this community should bring joy to the lives of every other member. It’s that simple and it’s that hard! Being personally “good” and “good at what she does” is what we celebrate today in the life of Mother Provincial, Julie!  

With the help of Tim Schoenbachler, I wrote the lyrics of this hymn last year for the Feast of Saint Jeanne Jugan, Foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor. We sang it as a Post-Communion hymn at the Anniversary Mass.

Last August, 2023, I published a collection of homilies I gave over the last few years at the local Little Sisters' Home for the Elderly.

The book is available at Amazon Books. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FIDELITY - TODAY'S UNCOMMON VIRTUE

       

GIVEN AT THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR HOME FOR THE AGED

May 20, 2024

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

John 19:25-34

Everybody has a “bucket list” of sorts of things they dream of doing before they die. It may not be an official list, but simply some dream they hold in their hearts of something they would like to do or a place they would like to visit before they die! For me, it was a cruise through the Greek islands! In 1995, for my 25^th ordination anniversary, the Cathedral parish gave me that trip. To walk up the very wide main street from the port that St. Paul himself walked, was moving indeed!  Another of the highlights of that stop in Ephesus was a bus trip to the top of the hill where St. John and Mary, the mother of Jesus, is believed to have lived out their final days.

When today’s gospel reading comes up where Jesus basically hands the care of his mother to his beloved disciple, I remember that visit. The tiny community where they are believed to have lived, overlooking the great city of Ephesus, is not that impressive. What is impressive was their fidelity to Jesus as they stood there at the cross to the very end! Their fidelity is much more important than that tiny village overlooking Ephesus. It is their fidelity I want to talk about today, not my trip!  

Fidelity! We have a whole lot of names for it: keeping a promise, carry through, doing what you said you'd do, keep your word, putting your money where your mouth is, putting up and shutting up, being faithful, to name a few.

When I was ordained a priest, 54 years ago last Thursday, I made a promise to remain faithful to my ministry till death, very much like the Sisters, priests and married residents. Let me share with you a few things I have learned about fidelity.

(1) Fidelity is not static, but dynamic. By that, I mean you don't just commit in some ceremony and "puuuf," fidelity is guaranteed. It is always a way of life, rather than a fact of life. Fidelity is something that must be freely and consciously chosen every morning you put your feet to the floor, whether you're a marriage partner, a Sister or a priest. In a day’s time, life offers innumerable opportunities to be faithful or unfaithful. In fact, many of those around us today will actually encourage us and entice us to be unfaithful, rather than faithful. In other words, opportunities for infidelity, as well as some very convincing rhetoric will try to entice us to be unfaithful. Like love, fidelity can often be demandingly harsh, especially when you have to say "no" to things that look good, smell good, taste good and feel good - all for the sake of a higher good.

(2) Those who make commitments to fidelity must count the cost before they make it and be able to pay the price after they make it. In marriage, you must not just be able to remain faithful yourself, you have to marry someone else who has what it takes to remain faithful. One should never make a lifetime commitment without having what it takes to keep it. Before one takes such a serious leap as a life-time commitment, one must be able to take baby steps before big steps. Before one makes a lifetime commitment, it is a good idea to see if one can make small commitments and keep them. If you never keep your word, never follow through on even small promises, always take the latest best offer no matter what you told someone else yesterday, never finish a project, never can be counted on to show up, then you are not ready to be a priest, Sister or get married. 

(3) Fidelity is often presented as a horrible cross to bear with rewards only in the after-life. Very little is said about the payoffs of fidelity. I believe that fidelity has pay-offs similar to regular exercise and a good diet. It's not easy, but it is ultimately good for you and for society.  God knows we have seen the pain that uncommitted partners, infidelity, latest best offers, grass-is-greener-on-the-other-side-of-the-fence thinking have inflicted on innocent marriage partners, families and especially children. Fidelity teaches you a lot about yourself. It teaches you to work through problems, rather than run from them. It helps you focus your energy in a more effective way.

(4) One does not just make a promise of fidelity and hope for the best or merely tough it out. One must tend one's garden, pay attention on a daily basis and do all one can to protect one's commitment from compromise and contamination. I have learned one thing from hundreds and hundreds of failed marriages. They were not killed. They simply starved to death, day after day, from lack of care and feeding! 

One of my heroes is Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit and a scientist. Because of his new ideas, he was silenced by Rome in 1926. He was urged by many to leave, not only the Jesuits, but also the Church. He decided rather to "go on to the end and with a smile if possible." Why? He said, "When I took my vows, I committed myself. To break them would be an offense against honor." "One must work from within," he said. "Those who leave no longer have any influence. The ideas now considered revolutionary will be generally accepted...The day will come; there can be no possible doubt about it."

These words of Father de Chardin have always challenged me on my personal journey of fidelity especially the part where he says, "One must work (for change) from within (the Church). Those who leave no longer have any influence.”  How true! How very true!

 

SEVEN YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

Of the more than 75 Parish Missions that I have conducted in Kentucky, Indiana and Florida, probably the most energetic and responsive was held this week seven years ago down in Marion County, Kentucky. St. Augustine Church in Lebanon was packed every night and the attendees sang gospel music at the top of their voices. It was a very, very memorable event that seemed to energize both the participants and those of us who provided the preaching and the music. It was an event I will never ever forget! 

Gospel Group Reflections

Even the choir loft was full.

Greeting old friends after one of the three-night sessions. 

THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK - A NEW YEAR'S REFLECTION

         Given at the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged on New Year's Day

                                                                       

The shepherds made known the message that had been told them about this child. 

Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.

Luke 2:16-21

This gospel passage reminded of that famous passage from the third chapter of Ecclesiastes that says:

There is an appointed time for everything,

and a time for every affair under the heavens.

A time to give birth, and a time to die;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to rend, and a time to sew;

a time to be silent, and a time to speak.

It is that last line that stood out today to me as I read it – “a time to be silent and a time to speak.”

Think of the Martha and Mary story. The shepherds were the activists, like Martha, in today’s passage. They told everyone about what they had been told by the angels. Mary, like Martha’s sister Mary, is the contemplative in today’s passage, who reflected in her heart about what had happened.

“A time to be silent and a time to speak” has been a daily part of my life over the last 54 years especially in preparing and delivering homilies.

I have never been one of those priests who believe that they can just get up and “wing it” without preparation because the “holy spirit will give them the right words” as they talk. I don’t believe it, I don’t practice it and I believe it is a terrible abuse of Scripture. If I do not have time to reflect on the readings and prepare a homily, I just tell people that “there will be no homily today” and sit down for a few minutes of silence.

I believe it so much that I have made plans to be buried holding a Lectionary in my hands. Vatican II taught us that the primary role of the priest of the priest is to preach. Because of that, the Lectionary has become my primary prayer book. The heart of my spirituality is not so much wrapped up in devotional practices as it is in “reflecting in my heart” like Mary and “telling people about what I have discovered” like the shepherds. “Telling people about what I have discovered” from reflecting on the Scriptures is not just about talking from the pulpit. Since I spend so much time “reflecting in my heart” like Mary, Like the shepherds, I write them out and publish them for people to read and re-read in books and on my blog, to hear on retreats and during parish missions. I write them out because some people cannot hear, others cannot understand English all that well and still others want to spend some time, like Mary, “reflecting on them in their hearts.” 

On a practical level, it would be wise for all of us to be like Mary, before we are like the shepherds. We should think before we speak. As Amy Carmichael said, "Let nothing be said about anyone unless it passes through the three sieves: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?"

 

 

"YOU KEEP AN EYE ON ME DAY AND NIGHT"

 GIVEN AT THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR HOME FOR THE AGED IN LOUISVILLE

11-13-2023

“Wherever I go, you are always there! Your hand guides me and your right hand holds me fast!”

Psalm 139

Psalm 139 has to be one of the most beautiful Scripture passages in the whole Bible! It is nothing more than a moving description about how much attention God gives each one of us! In every living moment of our lives, God carries each one of us in his heart.

It almost gave me cold chills as I read and re-read it. Just listen to it again and think of yourself as the one telling God how you notice all the attention that he is giving you!

O Lord, you have probed me and you know me;

you know when I sit and when I stand;

you understand my thoughts from afar.

My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,

with all my ways you are familiar.

Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold you know the whole of it.

Behind me and before, you hem me in

and rest your hand upon me.

Where can I go from your spirit?

From your presence where can I flee?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.

If I take the wings of the dawn,

if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

Even there your hand shall guide me,

and your right hand hold me fast.

Praying people are often so busy trying to keep their focus on God in prayer that they forget that God is already focused on them every moment of their lives even if they should forget God. This psalm reminds me of the awareness of God that Jeremiah had when he was called to be a prophet. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.” One of our familiar hymns, You Are Near, puts it this way. “You know my heart and its ways, you who formed me before I was born, in the secret of darkness before I saw the sun in my mother’s womb.”

Isaiah, the prophet, reminds us (49:14-16) that even in those times when we feel forsaken and forgotten by God, God reminds us, “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, I have you engraved upon the palms of my hands.”

Scriptures, like the ones I have just cited, remind us that God is always with us. Even one of his names, Emmanuel, means “God with us!” The problem then is not whether God is with us or not, but whether we are consciously aware of his presence!

Sometimes the problem is that we are like those on the walk to Emmaus on that first Easter evening. Jesus walks with us, but we fail to recognize him. Thankfully, as we do in every Mass, once the Scriptures are explained to us and we have broken bead together, our eyes can be opened to his presence once again.

A HEART THAT IS "PURE"

 

GIVEN AT THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR 11-6-2023

"When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.”

Luke 14:12-14

One of the Beatitudes that people often misunderstand is this one: “Blessed are the pure of heart.” They often think it has to do with chastity - not having lustful thoughts nor engaging in immoral sexual activities. It really means “doing the right thing while doing it for the right reason.”

As odd as it sounds, one can do a good thing, but do it for the wrong reason and therefore lose any merit it may have generated! Jesus gives us a good example – throwing a lunch or dinner for the very people who will throw one for you. There is no merit in an exchange of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” There is no reward in that because you have already been paid back. Jesus teaches us that if you want God to reward you, it is better to throw a lunch or dinner for those who have no way to invite you in return! What Jesus is actually teaching here is that we should be like God himself who gives generously to people who have no way of paying him back.

We all know that being generous to others is a basic tenet of the Christian faith, but what we have here is a challenge to examine our motives for being generous. Being generous for selfish motives not only voids any credit we might get with God, but exposes our generosity as self-serving.

(1) We can give to God and others much in the same way as we pay our income taxes – a grim duty that we cannot escape.

(2) We can give purely from motives of self-interest. When we give so that we will get a building dedicated in our honor, so that we will get a tax deduction, so that we will be honored in the newspaper, we give from a rationalized selfishness.

(3) We can give merely to gratify our own vanity and our own desire for power and admiration. We can give from a need to feel important and be looked up to as superior.

(4) We can give from a pure heart – simply to help another human being. The Rabbis in Jesus’ day had a saying that “the best kind of giving is when the giver does not know to whom he is giving and when the receiver does not know from whom the gift came.”

God gives his gifts to us simply because he loves us, not because he is going to get something in return. As the Common Preface IV says, “You have no need of our praise and our praises add nothing to your greatness, but they profit us for salvation."

What “purity of heart “means is this: if one gives to gain a reward, he will receive no reward; but if one gives with no thought of reward his reward is certain. Like God himself, we are challenged to give out of pure love, not because we will get something out of it.

A pure heart is both a gift and a goal. Pure hearted people are kind and generous with others without ulterior motives. They show their love by practicing selflessness. They simply want others to benefit from the joy of their giving!