It is important to keep in mind that our good works, whether we do one act or all of them, should be done with the fullness of Jesus’s love moving us… not part of it. Simply doing “good” for another just because we want to help others have a happy earthly life is sorely lacking the fullness of love we should desire from our works. So our good works can be above that of a kind-hearted atheist, who wants to help and make others happy, we must assist those we are serving to obtain God’s grace for the salvation of their souls. To do this, we need to pray, fast, and sacrifice our will (our desires) by giving up not only our sins, but our time, talent, treasure, comfort, and worldly pleasures–all that could have been used to please and serve ourselves and instead, choose the cross–to please and love God (not ourselves). We want to do this so that through the cross (love), grace can go to the souls of those we are giving to and the whole world… just like Jesus. This must be the intention of our hearts if we are being moved by the fullness of God’s grace and are actually loving like Jesus. As we love God through serving others, by way of the cross, our ultimate goal is for God to use our good works to help move His children (us included) into a saving faith and then sanctity. For we are not truly loving Christ in His poor if we are not seeking their salvation. He wants them in Heaven!

We also must be cautious not to do anything from motives of self-love, like seeking personal happiness through our “good” works and have our self-loving pride ruin our works, prayers, and everything. Instead, all our actions should stem from humble selflessness, from a desire to love and serve God (not ourselves) by helping those in need according to His will to please Him (to help save His children). This, of course, ultimately brings happiness once we learn how to live for God and His will and not ourselves.

Join the Saint Francis Project. Become a missionary, and we will help teach you how to do this in all that you do, in your everyday work, with global projects, and/or even while doing work for other charities. Please know, not all missionaries help save souls through preaching with their words, many will only use the cross of Christ. To learn more please click: Become a Missionary