24.10.2004 30th Sunday Ordinary Season - Year C
First Reading: Siracide 35,12-14,16-18 Psalm 33
Second Reading: II Timothy 4,6-8,16-18 Gospel Reading: Luke 18,9-14
Jesus continues to teach us about prayer. This is indeed a recurrent theme
in the Gospel according to Luke, who begins with the prayer in the Temple and
ends with prayer and praise of the Church - God's people gathered together by
Jesus.! Our Lord is also described at least ten times in this gospel, as withdrawing
to pray alone or with his disciples in solitary places; when asked he willingly
teaches the prayer which is pleasing to our Father!
Last Sunday he encouraged us with a parable to pray constantly, without tiring,
to keep our faith in our Father and on no account to turn to someone other than
Him and to place our hope in Him only. Today Jesus tells us another parable
about those who feel themselves to be righteous, to have credit in the eyes
of God and that they thus have a right to judge others. This parable gives us
the opportunity to observe our attitude when in prayer.
First let us observe the two men that Jesus describes. One is devoted and deserving
because of his good works. While praying, he thinks of what he is doing, he
is pleased with himself and he compares himself to others. He has nothing to
be ashamed of, nothing to ask of God, no desire to love. The other, however,
knows that he needs forgiveness from God and men and, perhaps, even from himself:
he does not try to compare himself with those who are worse than he is, in order
to justify himself and to feel at ease, but he looks to God and God's mercy.
In this way he hopes to receive the forgiveness he needs to be able to live
in peace. This man has a meeting with God who feels taken into consideration,
desired and longed for. God has always promised love and mercy to those who
repent, whose hearts are broken and to those who turn to Him, who want to change
and who recognise their sins. Jesus concludes the parable of the two men in
prayer with what he feels in God's heart. Those who realize that they are sinners,
are looked upon with benevolence by the Father: they have put themselves in
the right place, the place of the humble, of those in need of salvation, of
those who long for and are able to receive the Son, the place of those who appreciate
God's gift to the world. Knowing that they are sinners, they will be able to
accept Jesus as soon as they hear of him and will be overjoyed at the meeting,
just as Zacchaeus in Jericho and just as I try to do every day.
I realize that when I am aware of my sins and my unworthiness, I am more able
to understand others, more willing to forgive, more able to find the excuses
for the shortcomings of those who make me suffer and more able to exercise patience.
Not only the words of Jesus, but also the reading from Siracide makes me want
to be humble and to
have a contrite heart. "The prayers of the humble will penetrate the clouds".
They will continue to rise even when you can't see the sky and it seems that
nobody is listening. The humble persevere in their prayers and their hearts
are close to God, they do not despair even in moments of oppression and aridity,
of solitude and apparent uselessness.
St Paul confides in Timothy in a moment of great difficulty and suffering: the
apostle, who is in prison, feels abandoned by some of his friends. He participates
in the Lord's passion in this sense and just as Jesus was abandoned by the disciples,
now Paul struggles alone. The humility in his heart caused by the memory of
his sins helps him to forgive and confide solely in the Lord that he will give
him the strength to continue to announce the gospel of God! He is sure that
he has reached the end of his life on earth: he is happy to have persevered
in his faith and to await the prize promised by Jesus to whoever remains faithful.
He ends his life with a prayer of praise for God, a prayer of confidence that
he will enter the eternal realm where all the children of God are waiting!
I thank Jesus for teaching me how to pray and how to make of prayer a moment
of true conversion! And that conversion makes a missionary of me in the conversion
of all the world!