Okay, friends.
Have a lovely one.
Today's newsletter is free to read. It reflects on the dangers of worrying about how you might look while doing good works in the world. We have a long, judgmental tradition that many have weaponized, by accusing people of "boasting" if they talk publicly about how they show up in their communities.
It's bad counsel, which causes us to censor conversations that we sorely need more of, to truly heal ourselves and the world.
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/good-worldly-practice-starts-at-home
@MLClark What a beautiful gift of reflection you have gifted us on your birthday!❤️🙏❤️ My gift to you is a voice from far back in time, Aquinas. In article 9, objection 2, the objector raises the Matthew6 issue you raise here. Aquinas responds: “Secondly, almsdeeds deserve to be rewarded eternally, through the merit of the recipient, who prays for the giver, and it is in this sense that Augustine is speaking.” So your friend who you helped with food, helped you with prayer❤️ https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3032.htm
Thanks for reading and for sharing JGSchaeffer! That's what makes this place so beautiful: we bring the fruits of our different life experiences and cosmologies to the table, so that we're all a little richer for the feast. ❤️🤗
@MLClark Yes! I so enjoy sharing these serendipitous connections, literal webs of thought both across space, like ours here, and across time with parts of the web woven long before us! I hope you had a fantastic birthday full of heart and soul!❤️🥳❤️