“Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6. 1)

In this world of social media and e-communication, we often feel forced to announce what we are doing in order to reassure other people that we are doing it, or as it now seems to be, to avoid criticism for seemingly not doing something! For example, when I didn’t announce on twitter what I decided to give up or take up for Lent, someone said to me, are you bothering with Lent this year? It is all too easy to assume that just because someone doesn’t announce a sentiment, a prayer, a thought or an action, then they have simply forgotten it. This is a mistake. In fact, announcing something publicly often makes us feel as if we don’t actually need to do what we said we would do.