And this is a courtesy of our Lord, granted to all those who are specially His servants and domestics of His court, as are all those that for His love forsake, with a good true will, all worldly and all fleshly sin, and give themselves wholly both body and soul unto His service, with all their might and cunning, as do truly Anchorites enclosed, and all truly religious persons, who for the love of God and salvation of their own souls enter into any religious order approved by holy Church. Or else, if it be so, that they enter first for worldly respects, or for their bodily sustenance, or some other such; if they repent them and turn it into a spiritual respect, as for the service of God; these as long as they keep this will and pursue it as well as their frailty will permit, are true religious persons. (John Climacus)

Our original motivation may be faulty and self-serving. But if we nonetheless encounter God and neighbor and open ourselves to being in relationship, God can use even our mistaken motivation.

At the opening of the seventh chapter of Luke's gospel, we are told of Jesus and the Centurion. The Roman soldier's servant was ill and because the Centurion "valued him highly," he seeks out Jesus to heal the servant.

While the Centurion may have been pursuing his self-interest; his concern for his servant, the relationship he had established with the people of the town, and his straightforward manner left even Jesus "amazed."

The image is of Jesus and the Centurion by Veronese.