Examine the motives that move our actions



Google transl.

To be people of right intention, it is convenient to examine the motives that move our actions: to consider in the presence of God what induces us to behave in one way or another, what leads us to react in this way, if there are omissions in our actions. apostolate out of false human respect, if we adapt easily to a non-Christian environment, etc. In the light of faith we will be able to discover the points of cowardice or vainglory that may exist in behavior.


The Lord tells us a clear rule: when you give alms, do not proclaim it...13, do not publish what we do, do not dwell on what we think we have done well. Neither at the moment of doing it, nor after: that your left hand does not know what your right is doing. Nor should we stop doing what we must.


We have an exceptional witness. None of our actions goes unnoticed before our Father God. Nothing is indifferent to him, this is already a sufficient reward, a great reason to rectify the intention at work and in the works of apostolate. «An impatient and disorderly concern for professional advancement can disguise self-love under the guise of “serving souls.” With falsehood - I do not remove a letter -, we forge the justification that we should not waste certain situations, certain favorable circumstances...

»Turn your eyes to Jesus: He is “the Way”. Also during his years of hiding, “very favorable” situations and circumstances arose to anticipate his public life. At the age of twelve, for example, when the doctors of the law were amazed at his questions and his answers... But Jesus Christ fulfills the Will of his Father, and waits: he obeys!

»—Without losing that holy ambition of yours to bring the whole world to God, when those initiatives are suggested – perhaps desires for desertion – remember that it is also your turn to obey and take care of this dark, not very bright task, while the Lord is not there. ask you something else: He has his times and his paths»14.

The Lord asks us to be vigilant, because if we are careless, we will seek the reward from here below, and we will stop doing good out of cowardice, out of human respect, out of fear of the opinions of others. It is not going to happen to us "like the ship, which has made many voyages, and has escaped many storms, but in the same port it hits a rock and all the treasures it kept fall overboard; Thus, whoever, after much work, does not reject the desire for praise, is shipwrecked in the same port»15.


We are freer when we do things only for God. This way we are not subject to "what people will say" or to human gratitude, which is always fragile. Righteousness of intention helps us carry out a more fruitful apostolate in any environment and in any circumstance, it shows us the path to previous freedom.


Hablar con Dios