Faith Daily | 26 March 2022

PRAYER of the DAY - APBA p 486

Lord God, our Redeemer,

who heard the cry of your people

and sent your servant Moses to lead them out of slavery:

free us from the tyranny of sin and death

and, by the leading of your Spirit,

bring us to our promised land;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

GOSPEL for the Day: Luke 18: 9-14

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."

GOSPEL REFLECTION: Alison Dorman

In this passage, Jesus is using the example of these two men to teach how to ‘be’ with God and how to pray, He is also showing us how to be authentic before God in searching our heart to root out all forms of pride and to replace them with true humility. Jesus doesn’t judge the Pharisee or the tax collector for the roles they play in the World but for their attitudes towards others.

If I really search my heart, who do I most identify with in this story? The truth is probably both or either at different times because we all have traits of both. Jesus loved them despite the flaws in their personality and God loves us all equally as well.

To test our inner heart, can we imagine standing in front of a person we find easy to judge and saying, ‘I love the face of Christ I see in you’? Each of us is made in the image of God and so are both the ‘Pharisee’ and the ‘tax collector’ type people.

Pope Francis reminds the World that God never gets tired of forgiving us, but we get tired of asking for forgiveness.

FINAL PRAYER:

As we pray through this parable let us ask God to reveal what it is saying to me.

With the tax collector may we earnestly pray ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’

Amen