How you do anything is how you do everything.

Homily for Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

The Gospel text for today has given rise to many pearls of wisdom. One that I find very attractive goes like this: “How you do anything is how you do everything.” This nugget of wisdom teaches us about how our actions and intentions come together. I think that we would all like to believe that our actions are done for all the right reasons. However, we probably have to admit that there are times when our actions are done because our ego wants attention.

Do I volunteer to help where help is needed, or do I volunteer in order to earn favor in the eyes of others? Do I spend time in prayer so that others notice how pious I am, or do I pray in order to sustain my relationship with God? Do I give alms to the poor in order to alleviate their suffering, or do I “let my left hand know what my right hand is doing”?

The answer to those questions is really rather simple. All of us at some time or another in our lives have acted to get attention from others. The attention of others is a powerful reward in this world in which we move and live and work. However, that reward pales when it is compared to the reward that is waiting for us when we finally meet our God face to face.

The kind of “payment” that comes from our Father that Jesus is talking about is subtle, quiet, and peaceful, but it is also full of some kind of endless energy that is difficult to describe. “How you do anything is how you do everything!” Such wisdom. It’s time to align our anything and everything with right intention.