27 October 2013 - pierce the clouds with prayer

27 October 2013 - pierce the clouds with prayer

'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.’

We can see ourselves in this Pharisee, can't we?  We're in a mode of comparison.  Faults which other people seem to have are so prominent in our view that we have trouble seeing our own faults.  Indeed, the omissions of others (fasting, tithes) serve only to reinforce the merit of our actions.  Yet on this side of heaven we have significant faults.  Even the great saints lament these faults in themselves.  Even our popes go to confession more regularly than most of us.

The LORD is not "unduly partial to the weak" but he is able to do more in those who are honest with him about themselves.  This is why the "prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds".  If we think ourselves rich in the moral life there is less room for the LORD to transform us but he "hears the cry of the poor."

Let us be like the tax collector and come before God with nothing of our own to trust in.  It isn't that we are called to self-hatred.  We are, however, called to see beyond the illusion of self-sufficiency.  We must see that we need grace in order to be open to it.

Is Paul boastful like the scribe when he rejoices that "the crown of righteousness awaits" him?  Look at what he says.  He has "competed well" and "finished the race" and "kept the faith."  Yet it is entirely different from the bravado of the Pharisee because he acknowledges the source of these blessings.

But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength,

He knows that he is rescued by the LORD.  He trusts in him alone to bring him safely to his kingdom.  Therefore he says (and let us say together):

To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.