Today's Gospel

Your Ultimate Reward

Hi, I'm Matthew Kelly, and welcome back to Radical and Relevant where each day, we explore the genius of the gospels, the life and teachings of Jesus, and look for a word, a phrase, or an idea to anchor our day amidst the busyness, sometimes craziness, but to anchor our day in the gospel. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew 6:1-6 and 16-18, "Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them. For then, you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give arms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly I say to you, they have had their reward. But when you give arms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your arms may be in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have had their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father, who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. And when you fast, do not look dismal like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have had their reward. And when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father, who is in secret, and your Father, who is in secret, will reward you."

What jumps out at you today? I've shared with you before, one of the things that captures my attention when I'm looking for a word or a phrase or an idea is when a single word is repeated in a gospel reading or in this case, many, many times. And the word that is repeated is reward. Jesus was talking about rewards, and he was talking about the rewards of this world and the rewards of the next world. And as Jesus is speaking about in the gospel today, he wants to reward us. And I think it's good to think about those rewards sometimes. Otherwise, we can trade trivial for the deeply meaningful or we could neglect the deeply meaningful and miss out on the deeply meaningful and accept the trivial in its place. And I think we've all fallen into the trap of letting what matters least rule our days or prioritizing what matters least over what matters most and sort of the disharmony and the unhappiness and the restlessness that comes from doing that. But today, let's think about it. God wants to reward us. He has rich rewards in mind for us. And the ultimate reward is life in eternity in heaven in union with God. And I think we don't think enough about it. Let's think about it today. Let's pray about it today. Let's ask for it today. Let's yearn for it today. Have a great day, and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.

I hope you're enjoying the daily gospel reflections. So one of the things I love doing, spending this time with you each day. Recently, I released a book called 33 Days to Divine Mercy. If you haven't had a chance to check that out yet, I encourage you to do that today.