The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to examine the attitude we bring to prayer and our relationships that may need more humility and less judgement of others to make our love visible.
Reserving judgement
The reading from the Prophet Hosea is a call to repentance in the face of the impenitence of Israel and Judah.
* [6:2] After two days; on the third day: presumptuous Israel expects that soon God will renew them (cf. Ez 37). * [6:5] The word of God proclaimed by the prophets is effective, it accomplished what it promised: punishment.1
Psalm 51 is a prayer for Cleansing and Pardon.
* [51:18] For you do not desire sacrifice: the mere offering of the ritual sacrifice apart from good dispositions is not acceptable to God, cf. Ps 50.2
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax-Collector.
* [18:1–14] The particularly Lucan material in the travel narrative concludes with two parables on prayer. The first (Lk 18:1–8) teaches the disciples the need of persistent prayer so that they not fall victims to apostasy (Lk 18:8). The second (Lk 18:9–14) condemns the self-righteous, critical attitude of the Pharisee and teaches that the fundamental attitude of the Christian disciple must be the recognition of sinfulness and complete dependence on God’s graciousness. The second parable recalls the story of the pardoning of the sinful woman (Lk 7:36–50) where a similar contrast is presented between the critical attitude of the Pharisee Simon and the love shown by the pardoned sinner.3
Angela Maynard comments that during a recent morning of reflection, she had the opportunity to participate in, somebody pointed out, we as Christians are quick to judge. This is contrary to the teachings of the gospels. Jesus associated with anybody and everybody—particularly those to whom the Pharisee refers.
Jesus uses one of the seven deadly sins, pride in contrast with the heavenly virtue of humility, to teach us the importance of attitude when we pray. It’s easy to get caught up in the how to pray and where to pray. Let us take the opportunities of the Lenten season to perform some self-examination around the manner in which we pray. “Our strength is prayer and the prayer of a humble person is the weakness of God. The Lord is weak only in this one sense: He is weak before the prayers of his people.” -- Pope Francis4
Don Schwager quotes “God's mercy is our only hope,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Driven out of paradise by You and exiled in a distant land, I cannot return by myself unless You, O Lord, come to meet me in my wandering. My return is based on hope in your mercy during all of my earthly life. My only hope, the only source of confidence, and the only solid promise is your mercy." (excerpt from Commentary on Psalm 24,5)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 18:9-14 comments that examining our conscience can keep us from drifting away from the Lord, not only in serious ways, but also in more subtle ways. Just as a boat may gradually drift off course if the captain doesn’t pay attention, we can slowly drift away from the Lord without a regular review of our lives. That’s what happened to the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable—he didn’t see how the sins of pride and self-righteousness were affecting his relationship with God.
It can be painful as we carefully review our actions to discover where we have gone off course. But the Holy Spirit is gentle and kind. Even as he convicts us of our sin, he reassures us that God loves us and wants nothing more than to forgive us. He also helps us see just how much we need his help to grow in loving God and his people.6
Friar Jude Winkler examines the connection of the passage from Hosea to Jesus Resurrection. The tax collector was judged by the people to be a collaborator and cheat yet he was found to be more righteous than the Pharisee by Jesus. Friar Jude reminds us that the arrogant have themselves as a god.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces The Seven Homecomings, a practice taught by Tibetan Buddhist Lama Rod Owens, to invite us to recognize and honor our own personal “circle of care.”
Experience a version of this practice through video and sound.7
We seem, these days, to be more prone to judge others. One gift that Christians can bring to public discourse is the practice of deferring judgement of those with whom we disagree. This attitude has been suggested as a means of reducing culture wars in the Church and society. Humility and Love are less visible when judgement is present.
References
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