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“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father in Heaven shall enter the kingdom of heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in thy name, and cast out devils in thy name, and work many miracles in thy name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you.  Depart from me, you workers of iniquity’” (Mt. 7:21-23).

When I was first converting from a life of sin I tried to do many good things to try to earn God’s favor and forgiveness.  At the time I did not “know” the Lord nor understand that without Him I could do nothing (cf. John 15:5).

The Church is the Bride of Christ, she is One Body with Him through Baptism and the Eucharist, and she has the authority to act in His Name.  As individual members of the Body we are called to do good works in His Name.  Married couples can either have a truthful relationship in which they make a total self- gift to one another, or they can have a contracepted relationship which appears truthful, but actually prevents the husband and wife from “knowing” one another and becoming fruitful.  Similarly we can act in Christ’s Name without “knowing” Him as the Bride knows the Bridegroom.  This is done when we do external good works for our own self –glory, but we remain sterile because we don’t fully trust God or surrender ourselves to Him.  We try to determine for ourselves what is good instead of following the Lord’s lead.

As an example consider Ananias, the believer in Damascus whom the Lord called to go and baptize Saul of Tarsus (cf. Acts 9:10-18).  Intellectually this did not make sense to Ananias and he tried to reason with the Lord.  But when the Lord still insisted that he go, Ananias obeyed and baptized the great Apostle Paul whose life continues to bear fruit down through the centuries.  If Ananias had not “known” the Lord and was not “known” by Him, he may have said something like, “Lord, I don’t think it’s a good idea to baptize Saul, but I’ll go down to the marketplace and find five other people to baptize for You.”

We have to pray for the grace to trust the Eternal Father and to live in union with His Son Jesus Who always does the Will of the Father (cf. John 6:38).  This requires the surrender of our plans and ideas of how we think the world should be saved.

“Therefore if you, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Mt 7:11).

            Evil is the absence of good.  Our Father in Heaven is the fullness of the Good.  We inherited all types of evil (lacking in good) when our first parents disobeyed God and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (cf. Gen. 2:17). Our Father did not want us to know evil (lack of good) but that was the choice of our first parents. Yet despite the evil of our fallen condition, we are still created in the image of the One Who is Good. “One there is Who is Good, and He is God” (Mt 19:17). Because we are created in the Image of the Good, it is still natural to us (part of our nature) to give good things to our children.

Noticing this almost universal principle of humanity should lead us to acknowledge our Father and Creator, the Source of all Goodness. Coming down from the Father of Lights, Source of every good and perfect gift (cf. James 1:17), this tendency of kindness to our children is like a shaft of sunlight pervading the darkness of our fallen condition and leading us to acknowledge Our Father in Heaven. Observing it should give us an unshakeable confidence that we will receive what we ask for and need from our Loving, Provident, Heavenly Father.

15.“Therefore do not be anxious saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or, ‘What shall we drink?’ or, ‘What are we to put on?’ (for after all these things the Gentiles seek); for your Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be given you besides” (Mt 6:31-33).

Those children of the Heavenly Father who recognize His Kingdom, Authority, and Love enjoy a huge security of heart.  Babies and young children rely totally on their parents for food, drink, and clothing.  As they age they develop their own resources.  They then have the choice to begin to think of themselves as their own authority and the procurer of these goods, or they can continue to recognize that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17).

The difference then becomes whether we rely on ourselves or on Our Heavenly Father.  If we rely on ourselves then (because we are so small and inadequate) we are filled with the anxiety and worry regarding food, drink, and clothing.  On the other hand if we rely on Our Heavenly Father, we still have to work to procure these goods, but we recognize that even the work itself is His Gift; we were “created in good works, which God has made ready beforehand that we may walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).  If we rely on Our Heavenly Father we do not have to live in anxiety because we know that He is our Loving, Provident Father Who “knows that we need all these things” (Mt 6:32).

People do not want to be identified by their job if their job is only seen by them as a way to provide for life’s necessities.  For example a person might work in a store or a factory for this reason.  But if the same person, doing the same job, instead saw their job (in all its mundane routine) as a means of glorifying their Heavenly Father and advancing His Kingdom, then this person would no longer mind being identified through their job.  We want our lives to have a meaning beyond the mere sustenance of our physical lives.  This meaning can only be found in Our Heavenly Father Who is our Origin and our End.  We were created to reign joyfully as sons in the Son in His Kingdom forever.

14.“Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are not you of much more value than they?” (Mt 6:26).

Our Heavenly Father knows all our needs and desires to provide for us.  We have a Father Who is unlimited in resources.  We have a Father Who loved us into being.  Instead of regarding Our Father with suspicion and distrust, let us spend our heartbeats and minutes praising Him; walking in the Way He has prepared for us, and receiving from His Bounty.

13. “And thy Father, Who sees in secret, will reward thee” (Mt 6: 18b).

How many times have I read this verse without pausing to wonder:

1. Why is the Father in secret?
2. Who is the secret being kept from?
3. Why does the All Seeing Father “see in secret?”
4. How does this secret seeing become our reward?

1. We love secrets.  There is something delicious about them.  We are honored to be a confidant.  If it is a joyful secret being temporarily held from a loved one- whom it is destined to delight- we joyfully anticipate its revelation!  When we are in love the thoughts of our heart migrate continually and joyfully to the loved one.  This delight is the heart’s secret.  Outwardly no actions have changed.  But our view from the inside is entirely transformed by our heart’s secret love.  What may have been drab routine in dull surroundings is suddenly elevated to praise of the Beloved.

2. Maybe I am the one the secret is being kept from–my busy outside, disorganized I who seems to sense there is a secret love nearby all this clutter.

3. He sees in secret because no one except the one being seen knows what the Seeing One is perceiving.  Only the Father (with the Son and Spirit) knows I am here (sees me); everyone else sees only the exterior person.

4. We all desire to be known and loved for who we are, no matter what we have done or not done.  Once we begin to drink in this Truth that in Jesus we are beloved sons in the Son—there is no external reward that is comparable to this delight.  He Who sees in secret made us so that we could delight in seeing and being seen by Him.

12. “But thou, when thou dost fast, anoint thy head and wash thy face, so that thou mayest not be seen fasting by men, but by thy Father, who is in secret” (Mt 6:17, 18a).

 Our Father

He Who is

In secret

Our hearts’ Creator

He Who sees

The thoughts of the heart

In secret

Desires to be

The secret delight

Of every heart.

10. “For if you forgive men their offenses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you your offenses” (Mt 6:14).

Although we are made of nothing, Our Father has given us the power to forgive.  This power is one of the highest manifestations of His image in us.  Yet if we were never offended, we’d have nothing to forgive.  We wouldn’t be able to use this power we’ve been given.  This would be a big problem for us because we are all offenders ourselves.  In this way we can see (although probably only intellectually) that when Our Father allows us to be offended against, it is actually a gift of His Fatherly Providence to us since it allows us to use our God-like power to forgive.  Even more importantly, it makes us eligible to receive our Heavenly Father’s forgiveness, which is dependent on the exercise of our power to forgive.