[sinkspur]

In the name of charity, I will forego a most amusing and sarcastic question.

In the name of reality, you have no answer to the question.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

I'll answer.

Works without faith and love are dead.

[pascendi]

"I get nothing for spending an hour listening to a lonely woman in a nursing home tell me about her life? I get nothing for being a Big Brother to a fatherless kid?"

Comforting the afflicted in a rest home, one of the corporal works of mercy. Virtue is its own reward.

"Help me out here."

The Lord helps those who help themselves. Look, you're fixating on what's genuine charity in one domain to the exclusion of a higher charity in another. The Blessed Virgin's simple Fiat made way for the Incarnation, which made possible the defeat of Satan and the salvation of souls from an inevitable eternal Hell. Repeating the angelic salutation in the course of a formulaic Hail Mary is no small matter. You can't ignore forumulaic prayer in favor of corporal works of mercy, or make the case that the two are synonymous with each other. They are distinct.

The Masons do lots of charity stuff. Lots of people do charity stuff. Is it all bad? No. Are there various reasons why it is done? Yes. Are there ulterior motives? Sometimes. Does it all flow from supernatural virtue? No; some of it is just natural virtue. You're talking about two different things, sink.