30th Sunday of the Year C 2016

May God who, through Christ, bequeathed us the Our Father, endow you with all the necessary graces for an authentic and effective prayer-life starting from today till the end of your life. Happy Sunday! 

+ John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Sirach 35, 12-14.16-18; 2 Tim 4,6-18;Luke 18, 19-14: 30th Sunday of the Year C 2016)

    There are teachings on prayer in the gospel. Jesus taught his disciples the ‘‘Our Father’’. The major theme of last Sunday’s gospel reading is the necessity of perseverance in prayer. This Sunday, the gospel reading touches on another important aspect of prayer: the interior disposition/attitude of the one who not prays. Jesus uses a parable to illustrate this. In the parable Jesus contrasts the attitude of the Pharisee and that of the Publican/tax collector. The Pharisee was bold in addressing God in his prayer while the publican stood at a distance from the altar of holocaust and did even raise his eyes to heaven. The pharisee, full of himself, was thanking God for not being like other people. He presented to God his merits: fasting twice a week (instead of once a week), paying tithe on all he has (instead of on his earnings). On the other hand the publican did not make any long prayer; he beat his chest saying: Oh God have pity on me, a sinner. In concluding the parable, Jesus indicates that the publican went home justified while the pharisee was not. The prayer of the pharisee was not pleasing to God while that of the publican was acceptable to Him. 

    The parable brings out two diverse religious attitudes. Jesus wishes to put us in guard against falling into the temptation of praying like the pharisee who presumes to be just/self-righteous and despises other people. Often, we Christians congratulate ourselves feel satisfied and justified, like the pharisee, on account of our works of piety/charity or our participation in cult or our observance of the commandments. There is the tendency to reduce the Christian to the one who performs determinate actions or fulfils certain religious practices, one who excludes some excesses in his moral conduct, especially in his external and public conducts, one who participates in the holy Mass and religious practices. In this way, there is the risk of falling into a pharisaism that is as empty as it is presumptuous and arrogant. There are several ways in which we show that we are self-righteous, but basically they all show that we have forgotten that God is and we are not. This is the attitude which Jesus condemns. It presumes that we are righteous through our own power, when the case might be that we have not been thrown into a state of affairs that sorely test the mettle of our virtue. When the circumstances of life support our efforts to be compliant we can easily assume a superior attitude towards those whose weakness are only too apparent. They may show failings in area where we are resolute, but disdain for them is a clear sign of both our ignorance of our own human frailty and lack of human compassion for the frailty of others. Unfortunately, this attitude of arrogance can be brought in while praying by the Pharisee in all of us.  

     The authentic Christian always feels like a publican, a sinner, one saved by the mercy of God and who continually needs His help. Jesus extols the humility of one who admits being a sinner and can accept the implication of that admission. The tax collector neither denies his culpability nor tried to excuse it. He, straightforwardly, acknowledged his sin and stood humbly and openly before the God to whom he was accountable to. There is an unpretentious honesty in his manner. He knows what and what he is, and he knows who and what God is. He asks for mercy, knowing fully well he does not deserve it, but also knowing that there is every reason to believe that the compassionate God will grant his request. His prayer demonstrates contrition, humility and confidence. Unlike the Pharisee, who looks only to himself, the tax collector, though he does not even raise his eyes to heaven, looks only to God. This is the attitude Jesus commends.

    The publican’s prayer is the kind of prayer that is described in today’s first reading from the book of Sirach and in the psalm response. It is those who can admit they are needy who turn to God in that need. It is those who trust that God will be their strength in the face of their weakness who are strengthened. The lowly, the poor, the oppressed and the brokenhearted are not closer to God because they are lonely, poor, oppressed or brokenhearted but because in their straits/difficulties they turn to God rather than to themselves. God is merciful, and they experience this mercy when they pray for it. God is the source of their strength and they are strong when they turn to God for strength.

    Let us also turn to the second reading to learn from Paul what our attitude to prayer should be. Like the Pharisee, Paul acknowledges his success. He has completed his assignment well; he has finished the course given to him; he kept the faith. Unlike the Pharisee, he acknowledges that God is the source of any good he has been able to accomplish. The Lord stood by him and gave him strength. If there is any glory, it belongs to God. Paul’s confident prayer springs from a humble heart. May we therefore, pray in today’s Eucharistic celebration, that the good Lord who taught us to pray ‘‘Our Father’’ and insists that we persevere in our prayers may grant also us the interior humble disposition/attitude that is a sine qua non for an effective and authentic prayer. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

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