Lent - Day Twenty Four - The Proud and The Humble

Gospel	Luke 18:9-14 ©

The tax collector, not the Pharisee, went home justified.

Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else: ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’

It is hard for me to put into words just how hot the desert can be.  The sun is unrelenting in its attention to you. You do not really sweat because as soon as your body forms the sweat it evaporates without effect. The sand gets into everything.  If you have the slightest hole in a sack at the end of the day besides what you yourself placed in the sack you will find sand.  We use the sand to clean our dishes - it does that very well.  It is a little known fact that Saudi Arabia imports camels and sand from Australia.  I know, its like the Eskimos importing ice cubes.  But it is true. Don't tell Benjamin, my camel but camel meat is a staple in Saudi Arabia and the world's largest herd of wild camels happens to be in Australia.  As far as importing sand, the sand from down under possesses special qualities that the Saharan sand does not have and it is used for sandblasting.  Again I have to see if you want beachfront property but do not like the noise of the ocean, this horrible but beautiful desert is the place to come.  Here you find your place in the scheme of things. Spending hours in the hot sun with your only view being the ass of the camel in front of you gives you time to reflect on who you are. The Master said it best.  First, he read the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple. Then he went on and said:

"So, brothers, we have two men in the temple.  Being in the temple is a good thing, a laudable thing.  It is an action that pleases the Father.  But in our case, one of the men is filled with pride and tells the Father just how much he does for Him and how he cannot be compared to the miserable sinner behind him.  The Pharisee made a good beginning in coming to the temple but the lost it when he spoke with such pride of all the things he had quote, done for God unquote."

"What made him think that God had any need of his fasting or tithing or refraining from unseemly conduct?  Fasting and other works of self-mortification are not for God.  He takes no pleasure in the suffering of His people, but He does commend them for their efforts to subjugate their bodies and minds to God's will.  The actions of the Pharisee were useless because of the pride he took in completing it.  He thought that the mere actions made him better than others while that was far from the truth.  Mind you, the Father still loved the Pharisee but the Pharisee loved himself and admired himself more than he loved and admired the Father."

"The tax collector, now what can we say about him? He had a more humble view of himself and knew his life needed many changes to become a whole man, that is to say, "Holy."  He entered the temple for some reason.  Tax collectors did not spend a whole lot of time in the temple.  They spent their time collecting money and going to parties. So, our man, for some reason, felt compelled to come to the temple.  Perhaps he had a change of heart and was wanting to repent. We don't know what inspired him to come on this day but when he came he knew his place. He remained far off, in the back of the temple and he would not even raise his eyes.  He poured out his soul to the Father with the simple words, "God be merciful to me a sinner.""

"Every person has dignity.  Every person from the Queen of England to an untouchable privy cleaner in New Delhi is dignified by the fact that the Father loves him with an unquenchable love that cannot be described with human language. But the one truth that all of us have to learn is that the sum total of a man is what God sees him as, nothing more or nothing less. God's vision of you is true and He sees all down to the depths of the farthest reaches of your soul. So, remember that God can say "I AM" and only He has the right to say "You are."

Blessed are you in these last days...

Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. 

Some people say that there is only one prejudice still allowed to be expressed in America and that it is okay to be against anything Catholic.  Today the prejudice against the Church is much more subtle than it was in former years.  Our ancestors bore the brunt of the persecution of Catholics.  Catholics were distrusted in the 19th and early 20th Century because Catholicism came attached to people from Italy, Ireland, and Eastern Europe.  These immigrants were not looked upon as a blessing for the "Know Nothing" types that led the crusade against the Catholic Church.  In the press of the times, you can read want ads that specify that no Irish or no Italians need to apply for the job listed.  

Today, prejudice against Catholics still raises its ugly head from time to time but for the most part, we Catholics are now pretty much accepted into mainstream society.  Our Church has gone through some pretty rough times in the last decade. The scandal caused by renegade priests abusing the young under their care has given the Church a black eye.  The Catholic League has done a study about the scandal and over the years .004% of priests who have been accused of this behavior have had the accusations confirmed.  The balance was found to be unsustainable charges.  But the Church, simply because it was the Church, caught a lot of bad publicity because of this scandal but she has survived and against wishes of anti-Catholic bigots, she is thriving.  There is a lack of candidates for the priesthood but that is not because of the priest scandal, it is more likely because of the breakdown of the family unit in the United States.  Where families once had four, five, six, or more children, now couples are waiting longer to start their families and having fewer children.  Also, in previous years Americans, Protestant and Catholic alike based their values on the teachings of Christ while today political correctness is the rule and God is not to be mentioned in polite society.  But I digress.  

The future for Christians is a bleak one. While we may be getting a short reprieve while Mr. Trump is in office, I fear it will be short lived.  Once the liberals take back control, the anti-Christian policies engendered by Barak Obama will once again come to the forefront.  The Church and her unchanging doctrine will be called to change and we will bring upon ourselves persecution.  In the near future, Christians and especially Catholics will have to be strong in their faith and be ready to weather the coming gale.  

I am not a person who worries about the "end times."  Christ will return when the time is right.  Until then, we must do what we can to remain faithful.  We must be ready to experience what our forefathers experienced and that is persecution for our beliefs. We must prepare now while the storm clouds are far off on the horizon.  For once the tempest hits it will be too late. 

Pray and make yourself ready.  Clothe yourself in the armor of prayer.  Learn all you can about your faith.  What is absolutely required in these days is to Trust in Jesus and remember that He has already won the victory.