Posted by The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Jaimelito Gaelan SVD – La Paz, Abra
Saturday
A priest gave a moving sermon on the Gospel of today, about the proud Pharisee and the humble Publican. Everybody was impressed.
Right after the Mass one of the parishioners shook hands with the priest and told him: “Good sermon, Father.” Then he added: “It was really meant for my big brother.”
This parishioner did not realize that he was committing the same sin of pride, the sin of considering himself better than someone else. He himself turns out to be another publican.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus points at the need for us to think about how we can grow as persons, how to root out evil tendencies that crop up from time to time in our lives, how to relate better to God. Is this not why He praised the Publican, rather than the Pharisee?
In today’s Gospel story, the Publican was fully aware of his own sinfulness and his relationship with God to worry about anything or anybody else. His sincere desire to reconcile with God and leave behind his evil deeds leads him to humbly ask God for forgiveness.
In our desire to recile with God and turn back from our sinful ways, may humble words of the publican be our constant prayer too: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
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