Secret Inner Life
20 June 2018
Jesus invites us into a very personal and vulnerable connection with our Father who sees all that is done in secret. The secret inner life he describes in the Gospel centres on the basics of our lives: what we do with our money, what we do with our time and even what we eat. When we surrender these elements to God, we can call them almsgiving, prayer, and fasting.
When we genuinely try to give our lives entirely to God including our money, time and eating, we quickly discover our self-centeredness and weakness. This is essential information, but not a problem if we know the generous love of God who wants to give us everything. St Ignatius reminds us that: “In love, one always wants to give to the other what one has.” In our poverty of love, we can cry out to God for the desire and means to really love. This can become an authentic experience of our dependence on a loving God whose ability and willingness to provide for us goes beyond our wildest dreams.
Looking good before others distract us from the reality of our lives before God. Struggling with alms-giving, prayer and fasting, our secret inner business with God, keeps us real, humble and rich in God’s grace.
Lord help us to care more about what you think of us than what others think of us.