Through the graces of this Eucharist, we beseech the good Lord to open our hearts to generous prayer, that we may be full of mercy, goodness and understanding for others, not separating ourselves from them but presenting ourselves together with them to God. Happy Sunday!
DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Sirach 35,12-14.16-18; 2 Timothy 4, 6-8.16-18; Luke 18, 9-14; 30th Sunday in Year C, October 23, 2022)
In the Gospel, Jesus gives many teachings on prayer, insisting on the need for perseverance in prayer. On this Sunday, he gives us another teaching on prayer, precisely, on the interior dispositions necessary to pray well and be heard.
In his parable, Jesus compared two people who pray: the Pharisee and the tax collector. Their attitudes are in complete contrast to each other: The Pharisee stands, the tax collector instead stops at a distance, does not even dare to raise his eyes to heaven and beat his chest. The Pharisee is full of himself and thanks God for not being like the others. He is full of contempt for other people, and says: “O God, I thank you that I am not like other men, thieves, unjust, adulterers, and not even like this publican.” He separates himself from all the others, thus believing that he is pleasing to God. Then he presents his merits to God: “I fast twice a week and pay tithes of what I have.” Thus he thinks he is heard by God. The tax collector, on the other hand, does not make a long prayer, but a humble prayer. He beats his breast, saying: O God, have mercy on me, a sinner. And Jesus concludes: “This one returns to his home justified, unlike the other.” The Pharisee's prayer was not pleasing to God, unlike that of the tax collector. These are two very different religious attitudes. Jesus warns us against the temptation of praying like the Pharisee, who presumes to be righteous and despises other people. If we want to be heard by God, we must be full of mercy, goodness and understanding for others, not separating ourselves from them, but presenting ourselves together with them to God; even if they are sinners. Jesus always taught this way of sanctification: not through separation, but participation, communion and merciful goodness. It is quite spontaneous and natural for us to take the orientation of sanctification through separation. We do think we please God by presenting ourselves to him separated from others, who, according to us, do not please God, because they are thieves, unjust and adulterers. In reality this way of sanctification does not achieve its purpose, because God himself is a merciful God, who wants to forgive and welcome all his children. Therefore, it is necessary to present oneself to him in union with others, not separately from them, even if they have faults or wrongs. Jesus came to carry the sins of the world on his shoulders. When we pray, we too must carry the wickedness of the world on our shoulders, otherwise we do not correspond to the desire of the heavenly Father. At the end of the parable Jesus says: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” And another passage of Scripture affirms that God resists the proud and bestows his grace on the humble (James 4,6; Proverbs 3,34). Pride is the most damaging defect for the spiritual life, for relationships with God. If a person is full of himself, then he closes himself to God; there is no room in him for the grace of God, but there is room for complacency in himself. However, he who is humble and recognizes his own weaknesses and sins, is disposed to the merciful grace of the Lord. How often do we judge other people and separate ourselves from them, believing in this way to confirm our dignity and holiness! In reality we get exactly the opposite result.
The first reading completes the Gospel. It affirms that the prayer of the humble penetrates the clouds, that is, it reaches God. On the other hand, the prayer of the proud does not reach God, it stops at the pretense of being just, which we have already noted in the Gospel and which in reality is lack of sincerity, the text also says that [God] is not partial with anyone against the poor, indeed he listens to the prayer of the oppressed. He does not neglect the plea of the orphan or the widow, when he unleashes his complaint. We need to pray with much humility, and humility goes hand in hand with trust. Whoever prays with humility can be sure of being heard.
The second reading is the conclusion of Paul's Second Letter to Timothy. It has a relationship with the theme of prayer in two ways. First of all, Paul expresses his trust in God, because he says: The Lord will deliver me from all evil and save me for his eternal kingdom. Paul was in prison, his life was threatened, and was about to be sentenced to death. However, he does not lose faith in God; he knows he will be delivered by the Lord, in one way or another. The Lord can free him in the sense of preserving him from death; but he can also free him and save him for eternal life, that is, by means of death and martyrdom. In any case, the Apostle preserves his trust and in this manner his prayer is taken up to God. The other aspect, which corresponds to Christian prayer, is expressed by Paul: Everyone has abandoned me. Don't have it against them. Here the Apostle adopts an attitude full of indulgence for other people, even for those who show themselves indifferent and hostile. In my first defense in court, no one assisted me. Paul would have had the right to be defended, but, for one reason or another, no one intervened in his favor, all have abandoned him. In this situation he could hold a grudge, ask the Lord, as Jeremiah did, to avenge him of his unfaithful friends (cf. Jeremiah 20,12). But Paul does not have this attitude. Instead, he has the attitude of indulgence, understanding, forgiveness: Everyone has abandoned me. Don't count it against them. Paul’s words correspond with those of Jesus on the cross: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23,34). And the first Christian martyr, Stephen, has the same attitude; while he was being stoned, he says: Lord, do not hold this sin against them (Acts 7,60).
On this Sunday the liturgy offers us many teachings on prayer. The first is that of humility. It is necessary to present oneself to God with humility and in solidarity towards other people, with a fraternal attitude, and not with a proud or hostile attitude towards others, separating oneself from them. The second teaching is that of trust, which is accompanied by humility, The Lord is full of goodness towards the humble; therefore, whoever prays with humility can be sure of being heard. The third teaching is that of forgiveness. Jesus insisted on the need to forgive; he inserted in the “Our Father” a petition in which we commit ourselves to forgive others, in order to obtain divine indulgence too. Humility, trust and forgiveness are, therefore, attitudes that we must always have in prayer, and also in this Mass, in union with the heart of Jesus +John I. Okoye.
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