9 MARCH 2024
SATURDAY, THIRD WEEK OF LENT
Hosea 6:1-6
Psalm 51
Luke 18:9-14
Brethren, the parable in today’s gospel reading begins thus; ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray....’ Both men did actually pray. Whereas the Pharisee prayed a prayer of thanksgiving, but to himself, ‘I thank you, God, that…,’ the tax-collector, not even daring to go near the sanctuary, prayed a prayer of petition for mercy, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner’. Notice that only one prayer was acceptable to God; that of the tax collector. Only one person went home happy, fulfilled and at rights with God. "Why?" You may ask. The intention, disposition for their prayers varied. The difference between the two men who prayed was what was in their heart when they prayed. The prayer of the Pharisee revealed a proud heart that looked down in judgement on a fellow worshipper. Who ask am how many times him de go church, or pay tithes, or do charity? He thought of himself as morally better than the tax collector. The prayer of the tax collector revealed a remorseful heart, one that was humble and contrite before God, seeking for help and mercy. He knew that he had nothing to offer God, but everything to receive from God, especially mercy and forgiveness. Friends, the first criterion to receiving forgiveness is for us to acknowledge and accept our sinfulness, this places us in a right position to ask for the mercy and forgiveness that we so desire and need.
Both men used traditional prayer formulas but it was only the tax collector’s prayer that was acceptable to God and it was judged to be authentic prayer. Again, what distinguished the two prayers was the attitude of heart from which they sprung. In the case of the Pharisee, it was an attitude of pride and of judgement of others; in the case of the tax collector it was an attitude of humility, recognizing his poverty before God. What is always our attitude during prayer? Both men who went up to the temple to pray were equally poor, spiritually poor, before God, but it was only the tax collector who recognized the truth of his sinfulness. We should always come before God as beggars, as people in need of Him. Even in our need, there is of course room for the prayer of thanksgiving. However, whereas the Pharisee thanked God for his proud self, we are to humbly thank God for who God is to us. We petition God out of our poverty; we thank God for His goodness.
God, speaking through the prophet Hosea in the first reading, declares, ‘What I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts’. The journey of these two men to the Temple was an act of love for God. However, the heart of the Pharisee revealed a lack of love for the tax collector , the other worshipper who stood with him in the same temple, the same church. He considered him less acceptable to God than himself. He saw himself better than the other. The Pharisee was somewhat right to regard the tax collector as a sinner as it was popularly perceived, but he failed to recognize that he too was a sinner, maybe a worse sinner. We are all sinners dear friends. Both men went up to the Temple to pray, but only one of them had the right intention. Let us look inward and see why some of our prayers and petitions are not answered by God, it may be that we have the same wrong disposition like the Pharisee. We should all stand before the Lord as sinners. We should all come before him in our poverty. None of us can get into the business of deciding who is less, or more, of a sinner. That is best left to God. All we can do is open up ourselves to the Lord in our poverty and allow him to enrich us in His love, in other words, to pray the prayer of the tax collector.
Just as the Lord used prophet Hosea to call the people back to Himself, encouraging them to trustingly return to Him, He calls us through so many channels to repentance. Let us look inward and have a renewal of ourselves. Let us be humble both in the sight of God and humanity. Our sacrifice to the Lord, should be a broken spirit, a broken and humbled heart, surely, our God, will not spurn this.
-PadreCharlesLwanga.
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