| Luke 18:9-14 |
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Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else: ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’
Many people do not understand this passage. Most people think that this man, the Pharisee, is condemned by Christ merely because he was boasting to God about how holy he was keeping all the laws. Indeed, he was good in keeping the laws, but his religion was totally EXTERIOR.
Doing all the right things is merely the beginning of holiness. But, unless those actions come from virtue, rather than the law, unless those actions are in the perfect Will of God, they are useless.
Works do not merit heaven. Works are an overflow of the goodness which is already in the heart. This is one important point in my perfection series.
Purification must precede and accompany good works.
The second sin of this Pharisee was that he was comparing himself to the tax collector. This happens daily in the churches. People judge from outward appearances. There is a Catholic lady in a rural parish, who is in an irregular marriage. As long as her husband lives, and she loves him, she cannot receive Communion. She knows this, and yet she goes not only every Sunday to Mass, but sometimes to daily Mass. She is repentant, but cannot change her circumstances. Until her Anglican husband's first wife dies, this Catholic wife remains outside. She is sorry, but she is caught in the past sin of her youth. That she goes to Mass and does not come up to Communion shows that she loves God and that she yearns to be part of the Church. That her husband does not want to get an annulment is her Cross. He does not go to Church. But, only God can see her heart. We see her pain. She knows she needs God and to stay as close to the Church as she can under the circumstances. I do not know God's Ways, but I do know that those who criticize her have no right to think themselves superior. And, some who look down on her are practicing Catholics who believe in contraception and SSM. How ironic. They keep the law, but lack the INTERIOR holiness needed to gain the Kingdom of God. We must never judge.
May I add to this, that the artwork depicting this event in the Scriptures usually shows the Pharisee dressed to the nines and the tax collector in shabby clothes. Of course, this shabby clothes are an outside sign of inward poverty of spirit-that is, humility.
I have been criticized for my old and second-hand clothes. I dress neatly and am clean, but few things I have are new. It is amazing to me how one is judged by clothes. I never realized this until I was too poor to buy new coats, or new things and had to wear the same things over and over and over. Or, I have to wear shoes which do not match my outfit, or things which are given,which I would never choose myself. I have been blessed with good friends who have given me new things, like a wonderful woman in America who bought me new shoes, for which I am very grateful; just a note: rather than giving cast off things like some people do, the real gift would be to give the poor money so that they could buy their own things rather than giving them cast offs. This is important. The poor love beauty just as much as the rich. But, poverty makes one stress the INTERIOR beauty of one's soul, and not the EXTERIOR. Another person I know who is poor is criticized for being overweight. She eats poor food. She cannot work out in the gym. She has a medical condition which makes her gain and keep on weight, and yet, she is criticized. I am amazed. I would never think to criticize a heavy person. It never occurs to me to do so.
For me, the hardest thing about being poor is the lack of beauty in one's life. The Pharisee could surround himself with beauty, as he was well-to-do. The poor cannot do this. But, nature is my consolation. Today, the birds are singing, even though it is getting colder. May you and I never judge people according to their clothes. It is so wrong. Again, the INTERIOR LIFE TRUMPS THE EXTERIOR.