Humility
in Prayer
March 5, 2005
Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
Father Daniel Polzer, LC
Luke 18:9-14
Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their
own righteousness and despised everyone else. "Two people went up
to the Temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a
tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this
prayer to himself, ´O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest
of humanity -- greedy, dishonest, adulterous -- or even like this
tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole
income.´ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would
not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed,
´O God, be merciful to me a sinner.´ I tell you, the latter went
home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be
exalted."
Introductory Prayer:Lord, I believe in you. I
believe that you have created me and redeemed me from sin. I
believe that you have given me everything I have that is good: my
existence, my faith, my education, what virtues I have. I come to
you today in prayer to place my life before you. Help me to see
clearly that you are the source of all goodness in me. Grant me a
humble, contrite heart capable of true prayer. So often I wonder if
I really know how to pray; I wonder how fruitful my prayer is. In
the face of my misery I offer you the one thing I know I can offer:
my humility before your majesty.
Petition:Lord, help me to be humble when I
approach you in prayer
1. The Pharisees Prayer. The Pharisee went up to
the Temple to pray. We can assume that his intention was to talk
with God. As he stood there in the Temple, he thought he was
praying: he was in the right place, he was facing the right way, he
seemed to be doing the right thing. But his prayer was contorted.
In fact it was not prayer at all; it was a self-righteous
discourse. If a friend were to ask him the next day if he had said
his prayers, he would have said, Yes. Is my own prayer sometimes
a false prayer like the Pharisees? Do I think I am praying, doing
all of the right things, but in reality not praying at all and only
justifying myself?
2. He Was a Good Pharisee. The poor Pharisee
always gets painted as the bad guy in this parable. But in
reality he is not an outwardly evil person. He does not commit
grave sins. He is honest, faithful to his wife, generous in his
giving. But his pride blinds him to a much deeper relationship with
God. He lives his religion as the bare minimum of not committing
grave sins. His prayer is sterile. I must examine myself to make
sure I am not doing the same, thinking I am doing all the right
things but in reality barely living my faith.
3. Humility Is Essential to Prayer. The tax
collector is justified not because he has done all of the right
things but because he has the humility to recognize his own
sinfulness. Perhaps he even heard what the Pharisee was saying and
it moved him all the more to plead for Gods mercy. One of the most
important characteristics of our prayer is that it be humble. When
we go to pray we must approach God recognizing our sinfulness and
weakness and the fact that we have received everything good we have
from him. This is what makes our prayer fruitful. God loves a
humble, contrite heart.
Dialogue with Christ: Dear Lord, grant me a
humble, contrite heart. You know my misery. You know too well the
many times I have offended you and turned my back on you. I do not
want to pretend that I have never sinned because I know I have. I
offer you the misery of my sinfulness so that you can purify it and
do with it as you will. I do not want to live my life merely
avoiding the big sins. I want to have a deep and intimate
relationship with you founded on substantial humility.
Resolution: I will always make an act of humility
at the beginning of my prayer.
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We pray that that our
government and the mass media will promote true family
values