February 18, 2026 at Saint Peter the Apostle and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL
Joel 2: 12-18 + Psalm 51 + 2 Corinthians 5: 20 to 6: 2 + Matthew 6: 1-6 and 16-18
When you give alms. When you pray. When you fast. It all presumes that we do give alms, pray, and fast. If we have not, then the next forty days are a joke or there is something to be done. Then there is this matter of the hypocrites. That’s usually somebody else, but maybe not. That Greek word, “Hypocrite” means a stage actor, and in Greek plays, the actors wore masks that hid their true identity.
Our age with its strident individualism can easily use this text to exalt private prayer and spirituality over corporate worship. It is the need for recognition so rampant in our culture that Jesus challenges with these words. Public prayer and worship give testimony to the presence of God and the grace of God working among us. Claiming that private prayer is the best for you can quickly become a cover up for not praying at all. There is danger here. For disciples who are sincere, worship in a community gives public praise to God becoming an act that may draw others to faith.
The same danger applies to almsgiving and more. Charity can be given out of pride or guilt, to manipulate or control. It can be a bribe or pay back. Ultimately it is about motive, and it is the motive about which Jesus speaks. When I was in the seminary, I never had a book bill, and for all those semesters, I was puzzled. The store manager would tell me nothing. Years after ordination, the widow of our family doctor told me that he had covered my expenses for the whole time. It was recently revealed at his funeral that my old Archbishop in Oklahoma City had won several million dollars in the Texas Lottery. Through an attorney he remained anonymous, quietly funding social justice projects in the Diocese until the money was gone. No recognition for either of those two, but I can tell you that their alms giving motivated me and countless others to a new level of generosity springing out of gratitude and the humble recognition that everything we have is a gift.
And when it comes to fasting, we ought to realize that this is not something just for lent, and it’s not a seasonal diet. It is about sacrifice and discipline. It is a challenge to a culture that is overweight and overindulgent. It’s not about giving up candy or movies. It is about saying “no” or “enough.” It is about taking seriously the enormous amount of food displayed so temptingly at the door of a grocery store and the fact that more than half of humanity is hungry right now. It is about wondering what we can do about it and making some decision.
I think that Jesus is firing a warning over the bow with these words, and there really is Good News here. It is about a treasure in heaven. Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving form the basic structure of life for us. Used rightly, these will free us to live in the abundance of God’s gracious and merciful goodness. They free us from “not enough” worry. This is good news, and more than enough reason to live with hope.