A continuation of the sermon on the mount.
6:1. Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by
them: otherwise you shall not have a reward of your Father who is in
heaven.
Your justice... that is, works of justice; viz., fasting, prayer, and
almsdeeds; which ought to be performed not out of ostentation, or a view
to please men, but solely to please God.
6:2. Therefore when thou dost an alms-deed, sound not a trumpet before
thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that
they may be honoured by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their
reward.
6:3. But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right
hand doth.
6:4. That thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret
will repay thee.
6:5. And when ye pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to
stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they
may be seen by men: Amen I say to you, they have received their reward.
6:6. But thou when thou shalt pray, enter into thy chamber, and having
shut the door, pray to thy Father in secret, and thy father who seeth in
secret will repay thee.
6:7. And when you are praying, speak not much, as the heathens. For
they think that in their much speaking they may be heard.
6:8. Be not you therefore like to them for your Father knoweth what is
needful for you, before you ask him.
6:9. Thus therefore shall you pray: Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
6:10. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
6:11. Give us this day our supersubstantial bread.
Supersubstantial bread... In St. Luke the same word is rendered daily
bread. It is understood of the bread of life, which we receive in the
Blessed Sacrament.
6:12. And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
6:13. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Amen.
Lead us not into temptation... That is, suffer us not to be overcome by
temptation.
6:14. For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father
will forgive you also your offences.
6:15. But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive
you your offences.
6:16. And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they
disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I
say to you, they have received their reward.
6:17. But thou, when thou fastest anoint thy head, and wash thy face;
6:18. That thou appear not to men to fast, but to thy Father who is in
secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret, will repay thee.
6:19. Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust, and
moth consume, and where thieves break through, and steal.
6:20. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven: where neither the
rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor
steal.
6:21. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also.
6:22. The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole
body shall be lightsome.
6:23. But if thy eye be evil thy whole body shall be darksome. If then
the light that is in thee, be darkness: the darkness itself how great
shall it be!
6:24. No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and
love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You
cannot serve God and mammon.
Mammon... That is, riches, worldly interest.
6:25. Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you
shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life
more than the meat: and the body more than the raiment?
6:26. Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow, nor do they
reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are
not you of much more value than they?
6:27. And which of you by taking thought, can add to his stature one
cubit?
6:28. And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the
field, how they grow: they labour not, neither do they spin.
6:29. But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was
arrayed as one of these.
6:30. And if the grass of the field, which is to day, and to morrow is
cast into the oven, God doth so clothe: how much more you, O ye of
little faith?
6:31. Be not solicitous therefore, saying: What shall we eat: or what
shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed?
6:32. For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father
knoweth that you have need of all these things.
6:33. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and
all these things shall be added unto you.
6:34. Be not therefore solicitous for to morrow; for the morrow will be
solicitous for itself. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.