Today's Gospel February 26, 2020: commentary by Saint Gregory the Great

From the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew 6,1-6.16-18.
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples:
«Beware of practicing your good works before men to be admired by them, otherwise you will have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
So when you give alms, do not blow the trumpet in front of you, as hypocrites do in synagogues and on the streets to be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have already received their reward.
But when you give alms, don't let your left know what your right does,
for your alms to remain secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who love to pray by standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the squares, to be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have already received their reward.
But you, when you pray, enter your room and, closed the door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
And when you fast, don't take on a melancholy air like hypocrites, who disfigure their faces to show men fasting. Truly, I say to you, they have already received their reward.
You instead, when you fast, perfume your head and wash your face,
because people do not see that you fast, but only your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you ».

St. Gregory the Great (ca 540-604)
Pope, doctor of the Church

Homily on the Gospel, No. 16, 5
Forty days to grow in love of God and neighbor
Let us begin the holy forty days of Lent today and it is better to examine carefully why this abstinence is observed for forty days. To receive the Law the second time, Moses fasted forty days (Ex 34,28). Elijah, in the desert, refrained from eating forty days (1Ki 19,8). The Creator himself, coming among men, did not take any food for forty days (Mt 4,2). Let us also try, as far as possible, to restrain our body with abstinence in these holy forty days ..., to become, according to Paul's word, "living sacrifice" (Rom 12,1: 5,6). Man is a living offering and at the same time immolated (cf. Rev XNUMX: XNUMX) when, although he does not leave this life, he nevertheless makes worldly desires die within himself.

It is to satisfy the flesh that has dragged us to sin (Gen 3,6); the mortified flesh lead us to forgiveness. The author of death, Adam, has transgressed the precepts of life by eating the forbidden fruit of the tree. We must therefore, deprived of the joys of paradise because of food, strive to regain them with abstinence.

However, nobody believes that abstinence is enough. The Lord says through the mouth of the prophet: «Is this not the fast I want? to share the bread with the hungry, to bring the poor, homeless into the house, to dress someone you see naked, without taking your eyes off those of your flesh "(Is 58,7-8). Here is the fast that God wants (...): fasting carried out in love of neighbor and imbued with goodness. It therefore gives others what you deprive yourself of; thus the penance of your body will benefit the well-being of the body of the neighbor who needs it.