Gospel Reflection for Oct. 27:
There are hundreds of psychological tasks that we perform throughout the day. As a teacher, it didn’t take long to begin to see the intellectual and emotional processes of my students through their writing and classroom interaction. Not everyone shares the same propensity for certain tasks due to a variety of factors. One of the most challenging characteristics to deal with is the person who has a limited sense of self-awareness. This is compounded by the fact that they also are generally unaware that they are unaware.
Jesus proposes a parable about two men at prayer. A Pharisee prays with great hubris about all of the wonderful things he does in his life, he prays with gratitude that he is not like the rest of humanity. He not only touts his goodness, but also highlights the sins of others that he does not commit. He also notes that he is not the other man, a tax collector, who was also at prayer. As tax collectors were not well-liked or respected because of their position the Pharisee felt superior to him. He may not have known the tax collector personally, but was comfortable assuming what his sins were as well.
At the same time, the tax collector, with eyes downcast and with humility simply prayed, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”
That Pharisee was unable or at least unwilling to look into himself to recognize his own sinfulness and need for conversion. He was thoroughly convinced of his righteousness. This is a terrible pitfall, one that afflicts so many of us. It can get frustrating to hear the confession from someone who often receives the sacrament, when there is little or no substance to the confession. Even more disheartening is the confession of someone who has been away from the sacrament for a considerable period of time and they seem to have nothing to say. These are adults – they commit adult sins – yet they confess as though we were still children. Perhaps there is some experience of shame or embarrassment at work there, but the great gift of the Sacrament is to speak with someone who holds absolute confidentiality. Many times these confessions are also anonymous, so that the elements of recognition, shame, and embarrassment should be greatly lessened.
What is necessary as a remedy is an honest level of self-reflection and an examination of one’s conscience. We are called to do an examen every day of our lives, and honestly we should be doing so frequently throughout the day. Each passing moment of the day is an occasion of sin and conversion from sinfulness. Small acts of commission or omission, not necessarily of grave matter, but definitely matter nonetheless, should be identified, challenged, prayed over and corrected regularly throughout the day. A frequent Act of Contrition prayed often during the day is clearly beneficial to our spiritual growth.
The Pharisee is, though, not completely wrong. It is not a bad practice at all to thank God that we have been able to avoid certain sins in our lives; that we have experienced a genuine conversion, or that we have developed an aversion to sin. Unlike the Pharisee, though, we ought never for granted the positive steps we make in prayer, the spiritual or the moral life. Instead we should pray instead each day to be kept safe from those sins which can bring us down. It doesn’t take long for an old habitual sin to get fired up again, causing us to fall.
The stance of humility – recognizing our own humanity and tendency to sin – is an important step in the process of conversion. Likewise, it takes humility to turn one’s life over to the Lord in an authentic and meaningful way. The tax collector, in spite of his sinfulness, was humble enough to turn to the Lord for mercy. The Pharisee has no felt need for God’s mercy and thus remains unmerciful in his thoughts and prayers about others.
Every day we should try to look more like the tax collector than the Pharisee.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.
Readings for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time: SIR 35:12-14, 16-18; 2TM 4:6-8, 16-18; LK 18:9-14
To view a listing of daily Scripture Readings, visit usccb.org/bible then click on the date on the calendar.