30th.
Sunday Year (C)
(Ecclesiasticus 35:12-14, 16-19; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14)
(Ecclesiasticus 35:12-14, 16-19; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14)
Pride, that is, self-esteem
ready to reject divinely-imposed, and therefore according to Eve’s mind, distasteful
obedience, and ambition giving unjustified credence to the words of the serpent
who is the Father of Lies -- was at the root of the Eve’s original sin before
being compounded by that of Adam, too easily swayed by his wife’s example and persuasion. And so, the very first lesson given by the
Serpent and so gladly learnt by Eve and ineptly adopted by Adam, was to distrust
God; then, under the Liar’s aegis, they tried to grasp for themselves what
they could not trust God to give them: likeness to God, as the serpent had
promised Eve, “you will be like gods”.
We can say therefore, that lack of trust in God is the first and most truly
serious manifestation of human pride: whether it be shown outwardly in
aggressive ambition and self-assertion, or by self-esteem turned
inwards, burrowing down to ever-deeper levels of the human psyche and stirring
up the muddy waters of solicitude and anxiety about self, about ME. Pride is a fault-line in the human nature
that we have received from Adam and Eve: men and women of all ages and all
climes – be they important or non-entities, strong or weak, knowledgeable or
ignorant, rich and successful or apparent failures – are susceptible to it and,
should they yield themselves to its power, can be led to such a degree of self-assertion
or self-love that might sour all vestiges of love for fellow-man in their life and
alienate them irrevocably from the healing hand of God.
Our heavenly Father, however, is infinite in holiness, power, and goodness,
and He wants to give us a share in His eternal life, beatitude, and glory. To achieve that end the Father sent His only-begotten
Son to become One of us -- living and dying with us and for us, before rising
as our heavenly Saviour -- through Whom the Father also endows us with His Holy
Spirit to work with and within us throughout time, so that all peoples might come
to the glorious destiny He has planned for them.
Before such majestic goodness and compassion, human self-love is clearly
shown in the horror of its sinfulness: for our arrogant pride will neither
admit nor accept God’s supreme Lordship, whilst our anxious self-love cannot
believe, and will not trust, in His infinite goodness.
Let us now observe how the Pharisee prays to so wonderful a God and Father:
God, I thank You
that I am not like other men -- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this tax collector. I fast twice a week;
I give tithes of all that I possess.
Notice that after addressing God first, he then – immediately -- turns his
gaze aside from God to concentrate his whole attention on HIMSELF: he mentions
others but only to compare them most unfavourably with himself.
This Pharisee, obviously, is not praying to God so much as extolling his
own spiritual excellence, by reciting his own ‘officially good’ deeds and showing
his spiritual discernment by expressing his disdain for those around him. The few words he directs to God are merely ritualistic
and conventional, the ‘politically correct’ language of a man of God such as he
believes himself to be. You might say
that his prayer has the right ‘material’ but develops the wrong ‘themes’; it is
not a prayer thanking God P/personally for guiding, gifting, and enabling
him to ‘fast twice a week’ and ‘give tithes of all he possesses’, such an
approach might, indeed, have led him to have a certain understanding of and
sympathy for the tax-collector standing next to him along with those other nicely
parcelled-up and distinguished groups of sinners. Finally, notice how
Jesus so very accurately and succinctly describes this man’s prayer:
The Pharisee stood
and prayed thus with
himself.
We should notice, however, that the Pharisee’s prayer betrays knowledge
of God’s will which he intends to obey: he himself is not an
extortioner, not an adulterer, and he tries to be and thinks he is, ‘just’
before God.
On the other hand, when speaking of the tax-collector at prayer, Jesus
mentions only his humble gestures and words of self-accusation:
God, be
merciful to me a sinner!
There, God is supremely important, and He is recognized as being merciful,
Someone totally other than the suppliant now praying, who knows himself
to be a sinner. His prayer
betrays no knowledge of God like that of the religious Israelite and learned Pharisee;
and as for himself, a professional tax-collector for the Roman occupiers, he is
– generally speaking -- just a selfish, stuck-in-the-mud, too-wealthy, sinner. NEVERTHELESS, at this short time of prayer he
is alone, before and -- unknown to himself – with God; and therefore,
his prayer is a truly personal awareness, however vaguely felt and acknowledged,
of his own sinfulness and God’s majestic holiness and ‘otherness’.
Unknown to him, centuries earlier, the Psalmist (Ps. 91:14) had written
words perfectly applicable to the tax-collector’s prayer:
I will set him on
high, because he has known My Name (that is, because he has known Who I am -- the
all-holy God – and what I am -- infinitely merciful).
That the tax collector knew – existentially -- something of the reality
of God’s Name, was shown by his present faith (unusual, since he
wittingly obeyed no commands of God), and his uncharacteristic humility
(since he was no regular Temple or synagogue worshipper) before God; and therefore
Jesus, Who alone knew His Father in the fullness of His glory and goodness, went
on to say:
I tell you, this
man went down to his house justified rather than the other.
As for the Pharisee whose pride allowed him little more than a notional
appreciation of God’s Name and glory, and who enjoyed comparing himself most favourably
with others, Jesus went on to say :
Everyone who exalts
himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
People of God, whoever sets out for a distant destination must always
keep their eyes fixed on some fixed object that establishes the right
direction: looking at one’s feet, it would be impossible to arrive at the
desired destination.
So too in the spiritual life, we have always to fix our mind and heart,
our intention and our desire, on Jesus.
Of course, it might be objected that he who does not look where he is
putting his feet is asking for trouble; and there are some who would allow
themselves to be convinced by such an argument and would feel encouraged to
continue either worrying about themselves or else congratulating themselves for
their imagined prudence. The great
falsehood hidden in such attitudes is, of course, that it is not we who
are going heavenward of ourselves, but rather God Who is guiding us: we attain
His planned destination for us only if we follow the lead He gives us. As St. Paul said in our second reading:
The Lord will rescue
me from every evil threat and bring me safe to His heavenly kingdom. To Him be
glory forever and ever. Amen!
Jesus wished to impress this upon His disciples when He warned them of
pressures to come that would, if they did not take care, lead them to worry overmuch
about themselves:
You will be brought
before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the
Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do
not worry about how or what you should speak, for it will be given to you
in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit
of your Father Who speaks in you. (Matthew 10:18-21)
We all know that the apostle Paul suffered more than any of the apostles
for Jesus, and the hearing of only a few of his sufferings and trials fills us
with admiration for his steadfast proclamation of the Good News:
From the Jews five
times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods;
once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been
in the deep. (2 Corinthians 11:24-25)
How did he survive such punishments and sufferings and still have the
courage and strength to continue his witnessing to Christ? Listen to him:
By the grace of God
I am what I am; but I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but
the grace of God which was with me. (1 Cor. 15:10)
Not that we are
sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our
sufficiency is from God, Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new
covenant. (2 Corinthians
3:5-6)
My dear people, it is not only necessary for our eternal salvation, but
it is also so much happier and so much more fulfilling for us here on earth, to
keep our mind and heart centred on Him Who is calling us onward and upward, to learn to delight in Him, to trust
and thank Him at all times and in all things. There is no one happier than one who is
grateful, there is none stronger than he who trusts in God.
Trust in God is absolutely essential for a Catholic and Christian life,
for there can be no true love where trust is lacking. Trust in God is not, indeed, part of our fallen
human nature, but it is a readily available gift from God, a gift we can ask
for, a gift we are exhorted to work with.
We need to pray constantly for greater trust in God, for a more
instinctive and childlike reliance on Him, and we should also seek to back-up
such prayers by resolute endeavours to turn aside from ourselves, through personal
discipline of mind and heart. As trust
grows it brings with it such a deep peace and quiet joy that one wonders how
one could have been so foolish as to have relied on, or worried about, self so
much before; moreover, with a deepening awareness of, and trust in, God one can
more sincerely sympathize with others in their faults and failings, and also
appreciate more surely and fully what reasons we have to be grateful to God for
His great mercy and goodness to us in Jesus.
People of God, for any human being, such unshakeable trust and gratitude
constitute a fulfilment beyond anything this side of heaven.