The Problem of Pride

Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
“Two people went up to the temple area to pray;
one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,
‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — 
greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week,
and I pay tithes on my whole income.’
But the tax collector stood off at a distance
and would not even raise his eyes to heaven
but beat his breast and prayed,
‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
LK 18:9-14

T

here is no better use of our time than to use it in prayer.  This is something that I have always believed.  But today we can see that our attitude in prayer can make all of the difference.

To begin with we have the Pharisee.  The Pharisees were the power party of the time.  People looked up to them to see how they were to behave.  The Pharisees took their religion to heart and they wore it on their sleeves for all to see.  For many of them, not all, it was all about appearance.  For example, when you were going to give alms, you sent your servants with trumpets to announce the fact.  The people would watch as you humbly dispensed your charity and they would be in awe.  If you were fasting then by gum everyone was going to know just how miserable you were due to the fasting you were undertaking.  Again, the people would see what you were doing and they would be thunderstruck at how holy you were.  In other words, many of the Pharisees were about making a show of their piety.  As we know, this is not how to go about things.  Today our Pharisee is standing right up front and raising his “holy eyes” to God and telling God just how darned good he is and how he follows the law and fasts and does everything right.  Pride was taking the place of prayer.  This prayer was not taking into account the faults that were part of the Pharisee’s soul.  It’s a funny thing, but the holier that you are, the less worthy it is you feel of being called holy.

In the back of the temple, we have the tax collector.  The tax collector was looked down upon by the crowd.  In the pecking order in ancient Israel tax collectors were third from the bottom with only women and lepers being of lower caste. They were seen as traitors to Israel because they worked for the hated Romans, the occupiers of the Promised Land.  Many of the tax collectors were not very honest when they did their job.  They would be assigned a quota for a particular town, for example, and paid a percentage of what they collected.  Many of the tax collectors billed the citizens more than what the Romans wanted.  The Romans did not care, just so they got what was owed to the treasury. So, here in the temple, standing in the back we have this tax collector.  He is painfully aware of his sinful nature and he will not raise his eyes to heaven.  He beats his breast and asks for forgiveness for his many sins.  God heard and acted on the tax collector’s prayer while the Pharisee’s musings went into the heavenly trash bucket.

It is a good thing, to be honest with yourself and to take who you are and what you’ve done into consideration when you pray.  Our prayer should be a reflection of what is in our heart. It should be speaking to God as a friend.  Building yourself up as the Pharisee did is not the best way to pray.  But, unless you consider yourself completely corrupt as out tax collector friend, you can be a bit more upbeat when you speak to God.

Everyone thinks prayer is so mysterious and hard.  What it is, is simply one friend speaking to another.  When you pray, be completely honest.  God can take it.  He knows what it is like to be human, He came down and tried it out for Himself.  If you are happy, share the happiness with your friend,  If you are sad, pour out your heart and God will wipe the tear from your eye.  If you are angry or upset, be not afraid, tell God that you are and tell Him why and he will console you and perhaps suggest a remedy. 

The thing to remember when you pray is that you are not St. John of the Cross, or Francis of Assisi.  You are you and it is the real you that God is interested in.  To pray is to put yourself in the hands of God.  When you pray, the God of the Universe is listening to you personally as if you were his only child.  There is no need for fancy words, just be you and portray yourself as you are. 

PURGATORY – Yes, it is a real place and it is the temporary home for millions of souls.  I wish that it was true that when we die we immediately go to heaven.  Certainly, for some of us that will be true, but not for all.  Please, do not let your love end at the grave.  Pray for the Poor Souls today.