The Prayer of the Humble Pierces the Clouds

Homily for Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

There is the story of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia in the eighteenth century, who visited a prison one day. Each of the prisoners he spoke with claimed to be innocent: the victim of misunderstanding, prejudice, or simple injustice. Finally, the king stopped at the cell of a prisoner who remained silent. "I suppose you're innocent too," Frederick remarked. "No, sir," the man replied. "I'm guilty. I deserve to be here." Turning to the warden, the king said: "Warden, release this scoundrel at once before he corrupts all these other fine, innocent people in here!"

In the gospel text of this Sunday, Jesus brings to conclusion his trilogy on prayer: from the story of the grateful Samaritan who was healed of leprosy, Jesus taught that gratitude offers us a possibility of a personal encounter with God; through the parable of the persistent widow, we learned about being constant in prayer. Today, in the parable of the tax collector and the pharisee we are asked to be humble in our prayer.

Over the past few weeks, we have heard simple definitions of prayer, like taking time to be with the one who loves us, or lifting the mind and heart to God. For this week, consider this definition of prayer: "Prayer is becoming aware of who God is, and who I am in the presence of God."

We can explain the different forms of prayers within this definition. When I become aware of my dependence on God and his providence, it is the prayer of intercession. When I become aware of my sinfulness, I begin the prayer of repentance. When I become aware of what God has done for me, I express it in prayer of praise and thanksgiving.

The Humility and Honesty of the Tax Collector

The parable that Jesus gives about prayer can teach us so much. There is something so powerful about the humility and honesty of the tax collector who stays at the back of the Temple, beating his breast, asking for God's mercy. If you think of it, we began our Mass the same way, with the Confiteor, beating our breast and saying, 'I have greatly sinned, through my fault...' Like the tax collector, we are not just saying words or pretending. We are admitting our deep need for mercy.

Here are three things we can learn about prayer from this parable. Firstly, notice that the "The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer with himself..." The words, "with himself" are instructive. Even though his prayer begins with the word 'God', his prayer doesn't seem to be addressed to God. Notice that his prayer has too many I's. To be precise, there are 6 of them: "I thank you...; I am not grasping...; I am not like this tax collector...; I fast...; I pay tithes....".

The tax collector in his prayer, on the other hand, only mentions himself as an object of God's mercy. God is at the centre. The tax collector focusses on the mercy of God and his need for it.

Our Inner Attitude in Prayer

Then, secondly, this parable can teach us about our inner attitude in prayer. The opening sentence of the gospel text of today declares the intention of Jesus: "Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and they despised others."

The pharisee, in his prayer, justifies himself and despises his neighbour in the temple. He exalts himself. By judging the tax collector, and presumably others, the pharisee tries to make himself God. That's why, at the end of the story the tables are turned: Jesus says that it was the tax collector who went home at rights with God, not the pharisee.

We could examine our own attitude in prayer. How much of this justifying of ourselves there is, instead of opening ourselves to the saving grace of God. Equally, in our prayers for others, we should be very careful about falling into the trap of judging them and condemning them, under the disguise of praying for them. The old saying, which we would do well to remember when thinking of others we might judge, is "there, but for the grace of God, go I." Any merit we may carry is the work of grace not our own efforts.

The Prayer of Thanksgiving Subtly Hides His Pride

Thirdly, the prayer of thanksgiving offered by the pharisee subtly hides his pride. He is actually thanking God for what he is capable of doing for God: He says, "I am not unjust, I fast, I pay tithes..." The pharisee, in the story of today, "stands there" reminding God of all he is doing himself. He seems to imply that he does not need to beg the mercy of God because he has done enough to automatically merit it. His actions, his good works, become a reason for his pride.

Pride is an attitude of living in an illusion about ourselves. It is a false belief that we don't need God. The word 'humility', on the other hand, is related to the Latin word 'humus', which means, 'earth'. So, humility could mean lowering ourselves to the ground. That is what the tax collector does: "he stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven..."

This humility comes more naturally to the poor, the orphans and widows and those who are like them, as we heard in the first reading from the book of Sirach. The reading says that God pays special attention to those who are without power and influence. In the psalm, we heard that the Lord is close to the broken-hearted, those whose spirit is crushed. These are the kinds of people who know their need for God and depend on his mercy and providence. We are called to be like them in our relationship with God and in our prayer.

The Prayer of the Humble Pierces the Clouds

Humility keeps us in touch with our profound need for God. And humility is what God wants from us. This is beautifully expressed in the first reading today, which says that "the prayer of the humble pierces the clouds." When we pray, we recognise who God is for us, who we are and that we need mercy. Our prayer should echo that prayer of St Francis of Assisi, which he used to pray for hours on end, "Who are you, Lord, and what am I?"

Perhaps the best way to sum up the teaching on prayer in the readings for Mass this weekend, is in the Jesus Prayer. The Jesus Prayer probably comes from the Desert Fathers in Egypt in the fifth century. It spread through the Eastern Church and to this day has been more a feature of the spirituality of the Orthodox Churches. The essential words of the prayer are, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner," although there are various forms of it, some much shorter.

This prayer is prayed slowly and repeatedly, acknowledging the presence of God, in imitation of the tax collector in today's parable, and Bartimaeus, the blind beggar outside Jericho, who cried out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."

This is a prayer that we can use. Each of the words in this simple prayer are packed with meaning. We can pray it using the beads on a rosary, or just simply saying slowly over and over again, acknowledging who Jesus is for us, and asking for mercy for ourselves. This prayer is a summary of the entire Gospel.