Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple… Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion?… Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?” - Luke 14:27-28,31

There is a big difference between innocence and naivety.  Sadly, we tend to attribute virtue to both.  In fact, I am not sure there is much virtue in either.  While innocence can be the absence of evil, naivety is the void by which evil will inevitably fill a soul.  Jesus was an innocent, but certainly not naive.  Even more, Jesus warned us against naivety and taught us to prepare for suffering and hardship BEFORE beginning the tasks before us.

I have seen so many, myself included, who have set out to do some measure of good in the world out of a sense of injustice or righteous indignation only to have their efforts cause more harm than good.  We look at the failings of others, judge them harshly, and then set out to prove them corrupt while we are “holy”.  In the end, we become surprised by the burden of work, the depth of the darkness, and lack of return.  At this point the naive become jaded, cynical, and filled with self-pity.

Doing “God’s work” isn’t easy or fun and often harsh and difficult.  Those who do not count the cost of serving Christ are doomed from the beginning.   We are not called to work for worldly benefit or comfort.  We called to work because the work needs done.  The reward is that when one is able to throw themselves into the divine labor of charity they will find themselves working right along God.  It is for the intimacy of the Holy Spirit that we give without thought of return and work with care for fruition.