"Two people went up to the temple area to pray."
Sunday readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/102713.cfm
Sirach 35: 12-14, 16-18
2 Tm 4: 6-8, 16-18
Lk 18: 9-14
With
Halloween and the celebrations of All Saints Day and All Souls Day on the
horizon, the basic lesson on practical prayer in today’s readings is
helpful. In its beginning, Halloween was
a religious holiday in which Christians would prepare for the Eve of all the
holy ones. Sadly, in its present secular,
non-religious context, it has lost all religious significance.
Yet,
we learn from the Saints and from our brothers and sisters who have left this
life bound for eternity in God’s mercy, we know that prayer is powerful and an
essential life blood to holiness. Even
Jesus prayed and the Apostles inquired of the Lord might help them to pray. The countless Saints before us and now among
us, teach us that communication with God (prayer) is not an option if one
desires to be a true Christian disciple. So, many people pray; that’s a given.
Still the readings today offer us the essential answer to the question: “How
must I pray for God to hear me?”
In
this first reading from Sirach we hear that God is a “God of justice, who knows
no favorites . . . who hears to cry of the oppressed . . . is not deaf to the
wail of the orphan, nor to the widow . . . The one who serves God willingly is
heard . . .”
God
cares about the social order of things.
How we live together in community and how we include or exclude the poor
and disadvantaged makes a difference in the eyes of our just God and whether
our pleas for help, our prayers, will be accepted by Him. Enter the Pharisee
and tax collector of the Gospel parable.
Right
away the passage begins as Luke sets up the point of the story: “Those
convinced of their own self-righteousness (Pharisee) and despised everyone else
(tax collectors and all sinners).”
It’s
interesting the Pharisee finds his position for prayer in the Temple.
Apparently, being a man of his stature and righteous state, very much at home
in the Temple, that his position was for public visibility. The Pharisee stood for prayer so that others
could see him easily and as Jesus states, “spoke this prayer to himself.” Himself?
What happened to God? The implication may well be that God is not even
listening. Or if he is, he isn’t pleased about what he hears.
So,
goes his “prayer to himself.” “I” thank
you that “I” am not like the rest of humanity.” Then he proceeds to tell God
what humanity is like as if God is clueless:
“greedy, dishonest, adulterous – or even like this tax collector.” (That
bum behind me in case you didn’t notice him.)
Then
the accomplishments: “I” fast . . . “I” pay tithes.” What a good boy I am, God. Finally, after
using the pronoun “I” four times and passing judgment on humanity and in
particular that greedy tax collector whose posture is one of deep repentance:
hands crossed, head bowed, standing off at a distance, likely in some hidden
recess of the Temple as he beat his breast.
But,
truth be told, the Pharisee is honest about his life. He is not greedy, dishonest or
adulteress. He is a perfect Jew in a
sense as he does all the right things and so rightly feels justified before
God. Yet, his prayer remains empty
because though he may be correct, he has done it all for the wrong
reasons. Their egos have become
enlarged, their motivations were shallow, and their self-image is so filled
with self that God has been pushed out as a spectator not a participant.
By
stark contrast, the tax collector in the posture of humility simply prays: “O
God, be merciful to me a sinner.” He knows he’s done wrong and has come to
repentance. He is the example of how our
prayers will be heard by God. It’s clear
this is no self-serving prayer, no prayer “to himself” but a cry for mercy and
trust in a God who forgives. I think God
heard this prayer loud and clear.
Jesus
offers two extreme examples again about our disposition in prayer. Whether we stand, kneel, or sit in prayer is
less important than how we approach God. We must be like the tax collector whose
entire approach was that of the prodigal son who came to his senses, returned
to his father, and begged mercy.
How
do you pray? Our posture is important
and helpful but a prayer from the heart that is simple and sincere opens the
ears of God and always gets his attention. Is God a participant in your prayer or merely a
spectator?
In
our celebration of the Eucharist we hear words of pleading, humility, mercy: “Accept,
O Lord . . . Grant us, almighty God . . . May your grace, O Lord, we pray . . .
we dare to say . . . Lord, have mercy. . . Lord, I am not worthy . . .” Our liturgy is filled with right position
before God, that of creatures before their creator who recognize their own
weakness.
Take
some time to pray more this week. Try
keeping your prayer simple, not lengthy or wordy. Begin by asking for mercy the same way we do
each Sunday when the Church gathers. As
Pope Francis so recently said about himself: “I am a sinner.” Such an approach
to God is the way to be heard.
(Psalm 51, an excerpt)
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