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| "Oh God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity ..." |
(Thirtieth Sunday of the Year (C): This homily was given on
October 27, 2019 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond
Suriani. Read Sirach 35:12-18; Psalm
34:2-23; 2 Timothy 4:6-18; Luke 18:9-14.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Thirtieth Sunday 2019]
Prayer that presumes too much.
Prayer that presumes too little.
Both are common—and both are wrong!
The Pharisee in today’s Gospel parable from Luke 18
presumed too much when he said, “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.”
For example, he presumed that because he did
“religious things” he was thereby pleasing to the Lord. That was a rash presumption on his part! You can perform religious actions from the
time you get up until the time you go to bed and still be in the state of
mortal sin; you can fast and pay tithes—as this man did—for all the wrong
reasons.
And since he gave no indication in his prayer that he was
aware of his own need for forgiveness, this
Pharisee may have presumed that God would automatically forgive him of his sins, since he was
such a great Pharisee and performed all these wonderful, holy actions!
To presume that God will forgive us whether or not we
repent and confess our sins is perhaps the most dangerous presumption of
all. And it’s one that’s clearly
condemned in Scripture. As Sirach 5:5
says, “Of forgiveness be not
overconfident, adding sin upon sin.”
This Pharisee also presumed to
know those who were with God and those who were against God. He thought he could
clearly distinguish one group from the other.
In his mind, of course, he was
in the good group, and all those “greedy,
dishonest and adulterous” folks—like the tax collector—were in the
other. If we presume that we can clearly
distinguish who is with God and who isn’t—who is in the state of grace and who
isn’t—we are presuming to know the “heart” of another person, and that is
impossible! Only God knows the heart,
which is why Jesus tells us in Luke 6:37 not to “judge.” Judging, by the way, in this sense has
nothing to do with calling sin “sin”: that we should do; that we must do! But we can never know with absolute certitude
how culpable another person is for
the sins they commit. The tone of his
prayer indicates that this Pharisee thought he knew the “culpability level” of
other people—and that was a prideful presumption on his part; that was an act
of “judging.”
Here’s a challenging question: Has this type of presumption
been present in any of your prayers since September 11, 2001? Have you presumed to know the “culpability
level” of Osama bin Laden and his terrorist friends, some of whom unfortunately
are still around today? Hopefully
not. We know that what terrorists do is
evil; we know that what they do is to be condemned in the strongest terms; and
we know that IF they’re fully culpable for their terrorist activities they’re
in grave danger of losing their immortal souls.
But that’s as far as we can go in terms of our knowledge—and our prayers
should humbly reflect that fact. If they
don’t, then we are no better than the Pharisee of this parable.
The prayer of the Pharisee is a prayer that presumes too
much, and it’s wrong. But equally wrong
is the prayer that presumes too little.
The person who prays but thinks, “God really doesn’t love
me”; the person who prays but says to himself, “What I’ve done is so horrible
that God couldn’t possibly forgive me”; the person who prays but doesn’t
believe God can change him for the better or supply his needs; the person who
prays but doesn’t believe that God can work miracles; the person who prays but
doesn’t think that God can heal his marriage or family; the person who prays
but doesn’t think that God can help him to forgive others—these are all people
who are presuming too little when
they pray! Because the fact is, God does
love us; he does forgive; he can change us and supply our needs; he does work
miracles; he does heal relationships, and he does have the power to help us
forgive (after all, God the Son even forgave his own murderers!).
Which brings us to a man who did presume all these things when he prayed: the tax collector in
today’s Gospel parable. His prayer,
though extremely short, says and implies a lot: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” This man knew his unworthiness, but he also
believed strongly in God’s love and mercy: that’s clear from the words of the
prayer. He knew God could forgive him; he was convinced that God wanted to forgive him; and he believed God would forgive him if he turned to the Lord with a repentant
heart. And God did! As Jesus said, this man—who presumed what he
should have presumed—“went home
justified”, while the Pharisee—who had presumed too much—did not.
The example to be followed here, my brothers and sisters,
should be obvious.
Oh Lord, help us to be like this tax collector—always—whenever
we come to you in prayer.