In the Gospel according to St. Luke, Jesus teaches us about prayer. In it we first learn to pray with Jesus to the Father in what we call the "Lord’s Prayer," or simply the "Our Father." We also learn that we must always give thanks and praise to God from whom all our blessings flow. In last week’s gospel we learned that we are to pray unceasingly in our petitions to God. And in today’s gospel Jesus teaches us the truth, which was proposed in today’s first reading from the Book of Sirach, that "The Lord is a God of justice, who knows no favorites…but it also goes on to say, "the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest until it reaches its goal." And this same theme is reiterated in the Responsorial Psalm today: It says, "The Lord is close to the broken hearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves. The Lord redeems the lives of his servants; no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him."

In today’s gospel we have the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector – both of whom went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee stood apart from the main crowd and prayed loud enough to be heard by others. He started out well enough, "God I thank you…" but his prayer soon degenerates into a proud boast of his accomplishments and the fact that he is not like the rest of the people – like the despised tax collector. In themselves the Pharisee’s list of pious practices are quite commendable, but unfortunately the he advertises them to all who can hear in order to bolster his pride and to set himself apart from others. The Pharisee has no need of God and his mercy, for in his pride he sees himself as accomplishing everything on his own and he justifies himself.

The tax collector on the other hand exhibited humility as he entered the Temple to pray. Without even being able to raise his eyes to heaven, he beat his breast in a penitential manner and prayed simply for forgiveness – O God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" He acknowledges his shortcomings and his failures and throws himself on God’s mercy.

There is a story told about a city boy who visited his cousin, who lived on a farm in the country, for the first time. The city boy had never seen wheat growing in a field. It was an impressive sight for him, the wheat golden brown and ready for harvesting. He noticed that some of the wheat stood tall in the field, whereas some of it was bent low, touching the ground. The city boy said to his cousin, "I bet the ones standing tall are the best one’s, aren’t they?" His cousin smiled knowingly and reached over and plucked the head of one of the tall-standing wheat stalks and one that was bent to the ground. He rubbed each of them and the city boy saw that the tall one was almost empty of seeds, but the one bent to the ground was full of the promise of a rich harvest.

Why is humility so important when we are face to face with God in prayer? Because humility is nothing but the truth! The word humble comes from the word humus, meaning close to the ground or the earth. To be humble then, is to know that it is from dust we came and unto dust we shall return. Resurrection can only come from God. That is why God said through Jeremiah the Prophet, "one who puts his trust in human beings is cursed." And that is why, when the Jews asked Jesus what they needed to do to be saved, he replied, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."

The truth is that pride is nothing but absolute folly. If we have money, we will eventually spend it, lose it or else leave it behind at our death. Human beauty will always eventually fade away like the grass in winter. And what about our being extremely virtuous or intelligent, will either of them prevent our eventual death? It is pride that always destroys brotherly love and the childlike prayer that we must have if we are to gain salvation, and it is only God who can rescue us. It is pride that blocks our faith and the submission of our will to that of God’s.

Realistically, though, there is some of the pride of the Pharisee and some of the humility of the tax collector in each of us. However, the gospel today calls each of us to make that journey from pride to humility. Consequently, we must be conscious of the fact that it is God’s mercy alone, simply because he loves us, which brings us salvation. It is not our good virtues, good works or our self-denials. These are wonderful attributes and we must constantly strive to achieve them because that is what God wants, but they are not the means by which we receive God’s mercy and forgiveness or are made right with God.

God asks us to be humble, to imitate the tax collector, but also to refrain from feeling smug if we succeed. For even when we do manage to do our duty in difficult circumstances we must always be aware that we can’t do it without God’s help. We cannot resist temptations solely through our own strength or character. That is why we petition God when we pray the Our Father and ask, "...lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." We also have no way of knowing what problems others face who might seem to have failed in their duty; and we certainly don’t know whether or not we too might have failed in similar circumstances. So before any of us points a finger at the proud Pharisee, it is incumbent on each of us to examine our own house. We all need to examine our consciences on this matter, because pride is the subtlest and the most prevalent of all the deadly sins. Consequently it is often overlooked and goes un-repented.