23 September 2016

I wonder if many Catholics hearing Jesus’ parable today about the prayer of the Pharisee and of the Publican would not be surprised at the conclusion: “This man (the publican) … went home at rights with God.”  The Pharisees get a pretty bad “rap” in the Gospels, even though Jesus Himself, according to some scholars, was most probably a Pharisee.  And so many Catholics probably would not be shocked by the prayer the Pharisee in which he tells God about all the good things he does and thanks God for letting him be this good.  They would just see it as another example of “Pharisaic pride”.  But many scholars now point out that the Jewish people who heard this parable would have been shocked by it.  How can God be loving and merciful to a Publican?!!!!

The Pharisee in the story is truly a good man – he is not grasping, unjust, adulterous – he fasts twice a week (Jews were obliged to fast only once a week) – he pays his tithes.  He is the kind of man every parish priest would love to have in his parish.  The publican on the other hand doesn’t say anything about his way of life.  He doesn’t have to.  All the Jews listening to Jesus would know how he lives, exploiting others and gathering riches for himself.  They would be surprised that God even hears his prayers.

So what is the point of the story?  It seems to be that if we see only the good things that we do and therefore think that we are pleasing to God, then, Jesus says, we are missing an important point.  God certainly wants us to be good people, but we have to be careful about not being proud because of the good things we do.  We can then too easily overlook the love and power that God is giving us to help us be good.  The publican did not do good things, but he recognized that he depended on God’s mercy to be pleasing to God.  That is why he “went home at rights with God.”

I was telling the seminarians the other week that when I was ordained in 1960 we were taught that we must always look “our best”.  We had a new black suit, a new Roman Collar (which we wore constantly), and shirts with cuff links (we had to look like “a good priest”).  We could easily pray the way that the Pharisee did since we were serving God so faithfully -- we said our breviary, celebrated Mass daily, heard confessions, counselled, fasted, celebrated the sacraments etc.  I can look back and say that not many of us would have had as our constant prayer: Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.

But things have changed since then.  After Vatican II numbers of priests were leaving.  The “sinfulness” of priests was seen not only at times in the changed behaviour of those who remained but also in the revelations that came out before the Royal Commission on Sexual Abuse of Children.  It is no longer presumed that priests do only good things pleasing to God.  Today, we priests, even if we have never personally been involved in child abuse, must confess: Lord, be merciful to me a sinner, for we have all been guilty in some way of this sinfulness.  We must continue to live the best life we can, according to Gospel principles, but we must always also be in touch with our weakness and our sinfulness.  We must learn to trust in the mercy of God and not in our own good works.  In that way God is honoured and we are made “right with God.”

Jesus seems to be saying in this parable: no matter what you have done, trust in God’s mercy and ask forgiveness and you will be “right with God.”