‘Whatever good we do, we must do for the love of God, and whatever evil we avoid, we must avoid for the love of God ’ (St. Francis of Assisi).
St. Francis gives us excellent advice for the spiritual life. Only when this is our motivation in both things will the good we do and the evil we avoid acquire the full splendour of truth. Then we will find it easier to see that it was God’s grace that sustained us and we will not focus so much on ourselves and our ‘performances’. It is not always easy, especially when we receive praise from others for the good we have done or when we indulge in being some kind of ‘benefactors of humanity’, which can be a subtle temptation.
The Lord Himself gives us wonderful advice in this regard in the Gospel: ‘when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.’ (Mt 6:3-4).
The second part of today’s sentence is also very profound. Normally we avoid evil because of evil itself, provided we have identified it as such. Sometimes, however, evil presents itself in the guise of an ‘angel of light’ (cf. 2 Cor 11:14). There may be situations in which it seduces us to such an extent that, seeking our weak sides, we could hardly resist it out of the sole conviction that it is evil. But if we withhold our consent out of love for the Lord and looking to Him, then we will receive the necessary strength from Him. Moreover, the Father will thereby increase our love for Him, for it is because of Him that we have overcome temptation. Our heart will be deeply grateful to the Lord and will attribute the victory to Him.