Word to the Wise
Saturday, March 9, 2024 - 3rd Week of Lent - Fri
[Hos 14:2-10 and Mark 12:28b-34]"Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a PHarisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, '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.' But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.' I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted." [Luke]
In preaching retreats over many years, one of the principal questions I challenge the retreatants to ask themselves is: "How am I praying?" How we pray can tell us a great deal about our real relationship to God. I challenge them to do a history of prayer in their lives. Do they pray now as they did as a child? Where and how and from whom did they learn to pray? What prayers did they learn first and commit to memory? This last question is important because it asks us to consider how we pray? Is it always from printed prayers, or do we speak directly to God without a text? Both the Pharisee and the Tax Collector spoke directly to God and the contrast between the two is quite clear. The Tax Collector's prayer has endured to the present day as the "Jesus Prayer:" "Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner." What became of the Pharisee's prayer? Should he not be grateful to God for his blessings? Yes, he should, but not as if these blessings made him superior to others.
Everything in Jesus' story about the two persons in today's gospel speaks to us as a challenge. Note how each of the men approached God. The Pharisee went to a position of importance. The Tax Collector stood at the back. Prayer involves the whole person before God. Prayer is not a recipe but the expression of a relationship. Do we pray in a certain way so that we keep God at a safe distance? The Pharisee and the Tax Collector have much to teach us about the question: HOW AM I PRAYING? AMEN