GOSPEL READING: MATTHEW 6:1-6,16-18
Pious activities are done in order to show the relationship between the individual and God. Pious activities reveal the faith of the individual in a God whom he believes in. Jews believed in a God who redeemed them from the Egyptian and his name was also revealed to them through Moses as Yahweh. This God wanted a personal relationship with people of Israel.
This relationship was revealed through their pious activities: almsgiving, prayer and fasting. But as the years passed by the people particularly the so called pious people exercised these pious activities not only to show their relationship with God but also to be seen by the onlookers. Later these activities ended up as action-shows for the onlookers to reveal that they are pious people and these actions had nothing to do with God.
பக்திமுயற்சிகள் இறைமனித உறவை வெளிப்படுத்தவே. தனிமனிதனை வெளிப்படுத்த அல்ல பக்திமுயற்சிகள். இறைவனை மறந்து செயல்படுத்தப்படும் செயல்கள் பயனற்றவைகள்.
