Should we still pray and fast in secret?

[Engineer3352]

Today’s gospel was Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 where Jesus instructs his disciples to “not perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them.” This makes moral sense to me regarding giving alms, but what about His similar command regarding praying and fasting in secret?

Considering the context this was delivered in, I could see how in ancient Isreal it would be vain and prideful to pray and fast in an open manner so that others may see you since everyone believed in God, but not so in our times. Our world today is becoming void of faith and it is basically taboo to pray in public, let alone making it known that you are fasting for your faith. Given this fact, is this instruction not quite applicable anymore to Christians?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

It is still quite applicable to Christians in the modern world. While we do have public forms of prayer and fasting, these things should never be undertaken for any reason other than spiritual ones. Prayer and fasting are not a show that we put on or a spectacle, we do those things to grow closer to God and make our lives more holy. If I went around telling everyone I am fasting just to let everyone know I am a Christian am I not possibly letting pride enter into my spiritual life? Am I not possibly letting the public image of fasting overtake its spiritual dimension? If I make a big show of prayer, am I praying to get closer to God or just to tell other people about myself? Sometimes a “big show” of spirituality can also be seen as a thinly veiled public rebuke/judgement of others rather than sincere devotion.

While we should never be ashamed of our faith and should always be ready to explain it, Jesus’ warning of the risk of the true meaning and value of spirituality being lost when we make a public show of ourselves is always relevant. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with public expressions of faith, we do need to always question our own motives.