Dear Parishioners,
5
"The ones who humbles themselves will be exalted." Lk 18:14 The Pharisee in today's Gospel seems, at first glance, to be a faithful follower and a good Religious person. First glances can sometimes deceive. When I was reading the Gospel the second time, what jumped out at me was the number of times this person used the pronoun, "I." Each other time I read it, I could not get past how often he boasted about his accomplishments and “good deeds.� There is always a balance, especially for us as Catholic Christians, between acknowledging our gifts and talents and just bragging. We have been taught to be humble and not really talk about the good things we do. This is also problematic, since we have to give thanks and name what God has blessed us with, but we don't want to come off as "blowing our own horns." This Pharisee has certainly crossed the line. For me, it became clearer when he gloated that he was not like the tax collector...a sinner. You can almost see him look over with disgust and disdain at the tax collector. Wow, talk about arrogance, judgment and puffed up pride. The very man he condemns has his head bowed in supplication and a sense of his own unworthiness. Yet he still knows he can approach God for forgiveness and mercy. There is no referring to the "I' in his prayer. He comes kneeling before God and throwing himself at the feet of God. The lack of the "I" certainly opens him to hear the voice of God. He, unlike the Pharisee, doesn't come with a pre-prepared "resume" of all his good works. I think the difference and the problem is the Religious Pharisee thinks, because he follows all God's commands and ordinances, HE DESERVES God's ear. His stiff neck, as described as his standing before God, comes off to me as a pride of will. His plan and will he assumes God must know is best...hmmmm. He has a skewed image of what faithfulness means. When we fall in love with Jesus and accept Him in our lives as savior the "I, me, mine" should fade and be replaced with a desire to "know" the Other. In coming humbly before God, prayer should not be a list of all our good works hoping to change God's mind or bend His will to ours. Rather, prayer should begin the work of changing us to conform to God's will and what God wants of us. This is not always easy. One of the difficulties and problems I see with the Pharisee mentality is that when we approach God telling Him what to do and how wonderful we are, and He doesn't do "our will", it can cause a crisis of faith and maybe an abandoning of God. You know the mentality...well I prayed it didn't come out my way so maybe God doesn't exits or He doesn't answer our prayers. This is a caution for each of us. Prayer should be approached as wanting and seeking what Jesus wants for us, not so much what we want of Jesus. This does NOT mean and I repeat does NOT mean we should not ask God for the needs of our hearts...we definitely should and are commanded to. BUT the prayer should end with an openness to whatever God wills for us. It should be a desire to know God's plan and purpose for in our lives. This can only happen when we leave arrogance and pride at the doorway to prayer and are willing to listen to what Jesus has to say to us. Listening can only happen in silence, when the words are put aside and we can enter into the silent place where Jesus sings to us. A reminder that October is the month of the Rosary. Use this powerful prayer form to bring you closer to Jesus through the intercession of Our Lady. In Jesus and Mary, Fr. Bob