Why Are You Doing It

This is our third episode on moral principles.

Let's begin in the name of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's call to mind all those we've promised to pray for.

“I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.”

I believe in Jesus Christ is only Son our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate. But was crucified died and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again.

He ascended into heaven and he seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church,

the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen. Our Father, who art and heaven, hallowed be your name. I kingdom come that will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation.

But deliver us from evil Imen.

“Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee.”

Blessed are Thou among women. Blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee.

Blessed are Thou among women. Blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed are Thou among women.

Blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us in our ensnown at the hour of our death. Amen. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning as now and ever shall be.

World without end, amen. Our first mystery. So there are three parts of any good action. Three tests that we have to pass. What we choose to do must be good.

Why we choose to do it has to be good? Our intentions.

And then third, all the circumstances have to be good.

So, some years ago, one of the bishops of Mexico showed his integrity by forbidding any of his priests from accepting money donated from the drug cartels. Now, a lot of people might not understand why the bishop would make such a policy. After all, that drug money was going to go somewhere.

“Why not let it go to the church where it might be used for good?”

And after all, even if the donors were wicked people in other ways giving money to the church, that's a good thing, isn't it? So why turn down the cartel members when they're actually trying to do something good for a change? Well, the answer, of course, is that even if giving money to the church is a good thing, a good action. There's every reason to think that their motivations might not be so good.

Like, maybe they were trying to bribe the church officials not to speak out against the evil of the cartels. So, what this shows is that it's not enough to look at what you're doing. You also have to look at why you're doing it. Our father, who arts in heaven, hollowed be your name.

That kingdom come, they will be done, and earth as it is in heaven. Give us a stare, daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses. As we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil, Amen. Your Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed,

art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother, God, pray for us in our ensown at the hour of our death, Amen. Your Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother, God, pray for us in our ensown at the hour of our death, Amen.

Your Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother, God, pray for us in our ensown at the hour of our death, Amen. Your Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother, God, pray for us in our ensown at the hour of our death, amen. Your Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother, God, pray for us in our ensown at the hour of our death, amen. Your Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed,

he's a fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Your Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed,

he's a fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

“Holy Mary, Mother, God, pray for us in our ensown at the hour of our death, amen.”

Your Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother, God, pray for us in our ensown at the hour of our death, amen. Your Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed, he's a fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother, God, pray for us in our ensown at the hour of our death, amen. Your Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee blessed, art thou among women blessed,

he's a fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother, God, pray for us in our ensown at the hour of our death, amen. The Lord evied to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning as now in our shall be, world without end, amen. All my Jesus. Forgive us, our sins, save us from the fires of hell.

Lead all souls to add in, especially those most in need of thy mercy.

“Our second mystery, the church says that the first thing you have to look at,”

when you're morally evaluating an action, is the object. But after you look at the object, the what? You have to go on to ask another question. The why? Why am I doing this?

What's my motivation? The cataclysm calls this the intention of the act. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said, the lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light.

But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be in darkness.

“Augustine Jerome and Thomas Aquinas all said the eye refers to your intention.”

That not only do our actions have to be good, but so also our intentions. Our Father who art in heaven, hollowed be your name. The kingdom come by will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us a stay, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. Blessed are thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us and our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Oh, my Jesus, forgive us, our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to have an especially those most in need of thy mercy.

Our third mystery, the first thing to get clear is that good intentions can't justify an evil action.

It doesn't matter if I have the best intentions, I can't go around for an accating or blasphemy or killing people.

Even if my motivation is to spare people pain and suffering, I can't kill elderly people or babies in the womb or people with severe head traumas who need basic care.

“Because, no matter what the intention, the means, in other words, the action of abortion and euthanasia, are always wrong.”

So, too, even if my motivation is to encourage and support somebody, I can't condone that person's homosexual relationship.

Because, no matter what the intention, saying that a bad thing is really a good thing, is always wrong.

So, a good intention can't justify a bad action, but a bad intention can corrupt and act that would otherwise be good. Our father, who arts in heaven, would be your name. That kingdom come. They will be done on earth as it is in heaven. As we free of those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil eye, man. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen.

“Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us in earth, now in the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, as now never shall be, world without end, amen.

All my Jesus, forgive us, our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy. The fourth mystery, as we just saw in the case of the cartels, giving money to the church with nefarious motives, a bad intention, can turn another wise good action into something that's wrong. So our motivations matter, the intention matters.

For instance, there's nothing wrong in itself with saying something true.

“But why are you saying it? Are you saying it out of arrogance or bitterness or jealousy?”

If so, then your motivation is bad, and maybe you shouldn't be speaking that particular truth right now.

And there's nothing wrong in itself about bringing up a coworker or a mutual acquaintance in a conversation, but why are you bringing up this third party?

Is it so that you and your conversation partner can enjoy a good bit of gossip, verbally ripping this poor third party to shreds? And maybe there's nothing wrong in itself about having a meal or a long conversation with an attractive member of the opposite sex, who is it your spouse? But why are you doing it? Is it because you find them attractive? And you find their attention flattering? Probably.

That's why the first thing to look at in our behavior is the object. But the church also wants us to be aware of what's going on subjectively within ourselves. The church wants us to be honest with ourselves about our motives.

“That's why we also have to look at our intentions.”

Our Father who art in heaven, hollowed be your name, by kingdom come by will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us a stare, dearly bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and let us nod into temptation, but deliver us from evil eye, man. Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus, holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in our ensnowing at the hour of our death, Amen. Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus, holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen.

Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus, holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen.

“Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus, holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen.”

Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus,

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus.

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed, our Thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us in our ensnowing at the hour of our death, amen. Our fifth mystery. So in order to determine if something is good morally, we have to look at three things. There are three tests that have to be passed.

First, what we are doing, what we're choosing to do has to be good, why we're doing it, our intention has to be good, and the circumstances surrounding it have to be good.

“So as a resolution, let's really pay attention to our motivations, our intentions. We have to do good actions, but then let's ask, why am I doing this?”

What's motivating me? Because there are a lot of times when we are motivated by pride or envy or anger or greed or gluttony or lust. Jesus is calling us to purify our intentions to not only do good things, but to do them for the right reason. Our Father who art in heaven, howl would be your name that kingdom come by will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Your best is to err daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil amen.

Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us, and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us, and earns now in the hour of our death, amen.

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us, and earns now in the hour of our death, amen.

Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us, and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us, and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us, and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us, and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us, and earns now in the hour of our death, amen.

Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us, and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Hey, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, blessed is a fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us, and earns now in the hour of our death, amen. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, as now never shall be, world without end, amen.

Oh, my Jesus. Forgive us, our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to have an especially those most in need of thy mercy. And Michael, the archangel, defend us in battle. We are protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do that will prince of the heavenly hosts. By the power of God cast into hell, Satan in all the evil spirits throughout the world, seeking the wounded souls.

“Can the name of the Father and Son the Holy Spirit?”

Amen. What treats us what struck you with this meditation on purifying our intentions? I was reminded of an interesting conversation I had with a group of young people a long time ago. And I think it's actually come up a handful of times in reaction to this topic of purifying one's intentions, which is I think there is a bit of a knot that you can tie yourself into.

Of, oh, I'm not doing this for the right intention, this good thing for the right intentions, or I won't do it. But it was kind of a strange, we ended up kind of stumped on how to convince someone to in the meantime, do you continue doing a good action and then trying to purify it or just depending on what it is. I mean, I think if you see it, you shouldn't immediately think, oh, maybe I'm giving money to the church, just out of pride, or maybe I'm only being kind to this person so that other people will see me this way.

“I think if you recognize that you shouldn't, maybe I'm a bit confused on how people get tied up in that,”

because I think just change your intention. Now, you're bringing up a really good point. Let's make the distinction between. Rather than stop doing these intentions and feelings. Yes.

No, but to be clear, this was entirely about not how you feel, because sometimes you might just feel some way.

By it's eye. So we can never act, we should never, let's let me see it very simply.

A good action can be spoiled by a bad intention. So in that case, if you have a bad intention, you shouldn't go forward. Let's use the conversation, the gossip, one, for example. Yes. As I said in the meditation, bringing up some of the person in the conversation is not bad in itself.

But if my intention is to gossip, then I can't go forward. Okay, that's one thing. So if I have a bad intention, I can't go forward. Stop bad intentions. Although again, as we said in our previous meditation, you can have a good intention and still be gossiping. Yeah, if you, okay, let's clean this up.

“So why would I want what possible good could there be for gossiping?”

There isn't a good intent. You have bad intentions. The action, yeah, there's no good intention for gossiping.

Now you might say, I'm going to talk about this person.

Here's what we always, we always justify it and say, I want to, we, we lied to ourselves and say,

"There will be some good outcome if I talk to somebody else about this third person." And we don't, we're not really trying to bring that good outcome. We just want to gossip about them. If you wanted a good outcome, go talk to that person directly. And if you're really seeking advice on a situation, usually it's easy.

It's not too difficult to find someone who's unrelated and then talk without using names and talk about the circumstance and abstraction. You don't have to go to say like their closest friend and then just tear down their reputation. Exactly. There's a way to actually avoid that kind of confidence. Exactly.

But now let's take a different scenario. Often people have mixed feelings. That's different from bad intentions. People think if, let's say, it's, it's Christmas. And I have relatives coming over that I don't like.

And I feel disingenuous by being nice to them. You should still be nice. Exactly.

“I think it's more in the situation of say, it's like you should dress appropriately for mass on Sunday.”

And appropriate doesn't just mean not in a scandalous way. You know, you should not maybe come in your pajamas, but if someone was mentally like, oh, well, when I dress up well for mass on Sunday, I feel like I'm doing it for the attention of others. So I'm going to dress like a slob. Okay, well, that's where you need to purify your intention.

Because I like should be dressing well for mass. You should be putting effort in and turning up for mass.

But so that was more the specific situations we were talking about where you find yourself always tempted to, you know,

do something for pride. But you should continue to do the good action. And if you can recognize your bad intention, you shouldn't just continue to nurture that bad intention by being like, I'll just never do it. We should, we have to practice some things.

They're not situations we can just avoid. You have to just purify the intention. That's exactly right. You got to purify the intention. Which is, this is a very important more spiritual aspect of our lives. We've got to, we need to evaluate our intentions.

So we need to do what is right.

“And then decide whether or not you're, it's a situation that you have to stop doing that thing,”

because your intentions are bad or you have that's a good that you have to continue either way, and just the intention has something to work on. Again, it's, the church makes it so clear. All three have to be good. You have to do good actions. You have to do them with the right intentions.

And it has to be good circumstances, which we'll take tomorrow.

But we're always called to purify our intentions.

The reasons I'm doing this also have to be good. So let's work on today doing the right thing, but with the right reason or intention. Which is why I'm glad we talked about this and clarified it because I think the concern is to use it as an excuse to stop doing good things. When sometimes those are, like you said, it could be you're taking out a coworker or someone for the wrong intention. You should just stop taking that, you don't have to take that person out.

“Right. But there are some actions where you need to continue the good action and change your intention.”

Exactly. So we can't use it as an excuse to not do things because you're going to find bad intentions all over. Yeah. And you'll never purify your intentions if you're constantly backing out of things because you're like, I'm just not good enough yet. How else do we get good?

Good point. Very good point. Thank you. Thank you for the discussion. Friends of friendship, good conversation, and the rosary. Share this with others.