Doing good is important; without ostentation, even better

On this day when the name of Jesus is remembered by expressive number of the inhabitants of the Earth, it is always good to remember the lessons that he bequeathed to us.

One is about the practice of goodness, something that has a close connection with the Christmas season, when people feel motivated to share a little of what they have with those who have little or nothing in material terms.
To do good without ostentation, here is one of the known proposals made by Jesus of Nazareth:

"Take heed lest ye do good works before men, that they may be seen, or else ye shall receive no reward from your Father which is in heaven. So when you give alms, do not trumpet, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, to be praised by men. I tell you, in truth, that they have already received their reward. When you give alms, do not know your left hand what your right hand does; so that the alms may be kept secret, and your Father, who sees what is going on in secret, will reward you." (Matthew, chapter VI, verses 1-4).

In his comments on the transcript, Allan Kardec says that people who prefer men's suffrage, not God's, show that they place less faith in the Deity than in people and that they value the present life more than the future. If they say otherwise, they act as if they do not believe what they say.

In fact, no one is unaware that many only help others in the hope that the person receiving the aid will come to shout about the benefit received. And there are also those who, under the lights of the spotlight, are able to give large sums, but in the hidden, they do not have a single coin.

What really matters to them is the praise of men, which facilitates for all of us the understanding of this remark made by Jesus: "they have already received their reward" in life, and they should expect nothing from spirituality.
Not knowing the left hand what gives the right hand is - says Kardec - an image that admirably characterizes modest beneficence.

Such should be our behavior and our conduct if we are to adapt the acts of our life to the proposal suggested by Jesus.

The beneficence that we practice without ostentation has, in addition, a second merit. It expresses not only material charity but also moral charity, because it safeguards the susceptibility of the beneficiary, safeguarding the dignity of man, when we avoid exposing his image for the purpose of publicizing what we do.

Allan Kardec teaches:

"True charity, on the other hand, is delicate and ingenious in disguising the benefit, not in avoiding even the simple appearances capable of harming, since all moral friction increases the suffering that arises from necessity. It knows how to find soft and kind words that put the benefactor at ease in the presence of the benefactor, while proud charity crushes him." (The Gospel according to Spiritism, chapter XIII, item 3.)

And generosity assumes a particularly sublime character when the benefactor reverses the roles and finds a way to appear to be the benefactor before the person he really wants to help.

In the life of Cairbar Schutel this was a frequent behavior. Once aware that an acquaintance of his, a resident of the city of Matão (SP), was unemployed, he sought him out saying that he needed a person who could give a deal in the backyard of his house, where the bush was high. The man suddenly sought to serve him and received the just compensation for his work. Then, with his friends, he said - all happy - that he had done a favor to Mr. Schutel.
Here, according to the Spirit understanding, it is an expressive example of what the words of Jesus mean: "Let not the left hand know the right hand."