- Reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Luke (18,9-14):
At that time, Jesus said this parable to some who trusted in themselves for considering themselves righteous and despised others: «Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee; the other, publican. The Pharisee, upright, prayed like this inside him: “O God! I thank you because I am not like other men: thieves, unjust, adulterers; nor like that publican. I fast twice a week and pay tithe of everything I have.” The publican, on the other hand, staying behind, did not even dare to raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his chest saying: “O God! Have mercy on this sinner”. I tell you that this one went down to his house justified by him, and that one did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Lord’s word.
The prayer that the disciples of Jesus make it can’t make us feel better than those who don’t. The Christian life that we try to lead daily, made of fidelity to the will of God and praying about our daily problems, it does not give us the security of obtaining God’s favor, if we live comparing ourselves with those who are not like us. Prayer is not an exercise in self-esteem, It is an occasion to know that we are esteemed by God. We will discover what we are worth, if we perceive how much we are worth to God. Like the Pharisee in the parable, it seems that when we put ourselves in the presence of God, we need to make ourselves better by making those around us bad. Thinking, like the Pharisee, that God only accepts the good, we risk losing everything we have achieved through effort and fidelity.
No matter how sincere our prayer life may be, if it fosters feelings of superiority towards others, it will not count on God’s approval; the God of Jesus does not appreciate the righteous who, in his presence, dares to despise those who do not equal him in goodness. Because – and we should understand it well – the Pharisee in the parable did not tell lies when he told his God that he was good, that he scrupulously fulfilled his will.
The God of Jesus does not resist those who, in order to feel satisfied with themselves, have to be dissatisfied with everyone around them. The God of Jesus does not consider good those who believe they are better than others, just because he does his will. And it is that an exercise of obedience to God, that does not lead to the appreciation of others, will not have divine approval. Too often we go to God to tell him how good we have managed to be and how good he should be to us, in return for our efforts.
Jesus, on the other hand, warns us that we should imitate the sinner, if we want to come out of our prayer with good. That’s how easy he makes it for us. Because, without a doubt, we have to make it more comfortable for us to go to God to ask for forgiveness than to convince him of our merits. In the prayer that we make, Jesus teaches us with the parable, we should not remind God of what we have done but, like the publican, of what we still have to do.
The Pharisee’s mistake was not that he did not pray; his mistake was that he saw himself as good for being better than others and not for seeing himself as God saw him. He could believe he was good because he was with the bad guys, not because he was confronted with the goodness of God. Therefore, just and pious, he looked down on those who were not so. And so he did not return to his house justified.
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On the other hand, the sinner, who returned home in peace with God, did not have to make any more effort than to recognize that his life was not up to what God wanted; he couldn’t help but tell her that he wasn’t worthy of Him and that he was truly sorry. It would be enough, then, not to underestimate someone who is not like us, it would be enough not to feel sure of our merits, to assure us of God’s favor and his attention.
Enjoy the presence of God in the Mass and in the family!
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