Matthew 6:1-7
New Catholic Bible
The True Practice of Religion[a]
Chapter 6
Giving Alms in Secret. 1 “Beware of performing righteous deeds before others in order to impress them. If you do so, you will receive no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 Therefore, whenever you give alms, do not trumpet your generosity, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets in order to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have already received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 4 Your almsgiving must be done in secret. And your Father who sees everything that is done in secret will reward you.
Praying in Secret. 5 “Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may observe them doing so. Amen, I say to you, they have already received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees everything that is done in secret will reward you.
The Lord’s Prayer.[b] 7 “When you pray do not go on babbling endlessly as the pagans do, for they believe that they are more likely to be heard because of their many words.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Matthew 6:1 Almsgiving (vv. 2-4), prayer (vv. 5-15), and fasting (vv. 16-18) are characteristics of the Jewish religion, or of the “righteous.” Jesus does not teach other practices but is concerned with the spirit of our religious acts so that they may lead to God’s presence and bring the joy of being children of God. Believers do not vaunt themselves or make a show of their religion; they listen to God. True religion is authentic spiritual life rather than spectacle and confusion or human respect.
- Matthew 6:7 In response to a request from his disciples to teach them to pray (see Lk 11:1), Jesus entrusts them with the fundamental Christian prayer, the Our Father. It is also called the Lord’s Prayer because it comes to us from the Lord Jesus, the master and model of prayer. The Lord’s Prayer constitutes the summary of the whole Gospel, lies at the center of the Scriptures, and is the most perfect of prayers. The object of the first three petitions is the glory of the Father: the sanctification of his name, the coming of the kingdom, and the fulfillment of his will. The four others present our wants to him: they ask that our lives be nourished, healed of sin, and made victorious in the struggle of good over evil.
