“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.”
And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. The same structure as the giving instruction: the hypocrites who pray in visible locations to maximize their audience have received their reward — the attention they sought. The synagogue prayer and the street-corner prayer are not inherently wrong (public prayer has its place), but the motive of being seen by others corrupts the act. Prayer addressed to a human audience is not prayer in the kingdom sense; it is speech about prayer performed for the human gallery. The audience determines the nature of the act.
Church Fathers on Matthew 6:5
Solomon says, 'Before prayer, prepare thy soul.' This he does who comes to prayer doing alms; for good works stir up the faith of the heart, and give the soul confidence in prayer to God. Alms then are a preparation for prayer, and therefore the Lord after speaking of alms proceeds accordingly to instruct us concerning prayer.
He does not now bid us pray, but instructs us how we should pray; as above He did not command us to do alms, but shewed the manner of doing them.
He calls them hypocrites, because feigning that they are praying to God, they are looking round to men; and He adds, 'they love to pray in the synagogues.'
Read all 21 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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