Over the last month we’ve been formed by Jesus in a series of lessons about faith and prayer. Using the image of a mustard seed, we were told the smallest amount of true faith can accomplish incredible things. The healing of ten lepers reminded us of the need for gratitude towards God in all he does for us. Last week the parable of the dishonest judge and steadfast widow demonstrated the desire Jesus has for us to pray without getting discouraged, and this week, we have a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector to warn about the danger of pride in our prayer. As Jesus tells the story, the outwardly-righteous Pharisee is not pleasing to God; the humble, sinful tax collector is.
In the parable, what the Pharisee says in his prayer is this: “I thank you, God, 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.” Meanwhile, the tax collector simply prays for God to have mercy on him, acknowledges that he is a sinful man and doesn’t even dare raise his eyes to the heavens. He trusts God will hear his prayer but he knows he is not entitled to this Divine Mercy.
Notice the parable doesn’t doubt the Pharisee’s truthfulness: he has real moral goodness. He does things that are pleasing to God and worthy of imitation. Notice also that the Pharisee doesn’t congratulate himself on this moral goodness in his life. He thanks God for it and gives God all the credit. So what exactly is wrong with this Pharisee?
Eleanor Stump, a philosophy professor at St. Louis University, points us to the answer by referencing St. Thomas Aquinas who wrote about four kinds of pride.
(1) There’s foolish pride. in other words, you think you have an excellence which you don’t have, like a child who thinks he’s the best basketball player in the world or knows better than his parents.
(2) There’s the pride of the self-made man. You think you have an excellence you do in fact have, but you believe you got that excellence for yourself, without anybody’s help.
(3) Then there’s the self-congratulatory pride. You think you have an excellence you do have, and you recognize that God gave it to you; but you assume God gave it to you because he knew that only you would make such good use of it.
(4) Lastly, there’s the most self-deceptive kind of pride. You think you have an excellence you do have, and you recognize that you have it because God gave it, and you acknowledge God gave it because he is so good, but you are glad others don’t have it and you hope they never get it because it makes you feel superior to them.
All four types of pride are a problem. That’s why we say it is the root of all sin. And now we see what is wrong with the Pharisee. He acknowledges his excellence is a gift from the Lord. He simply doesn’t want anybody else to have what he has. He likes looking down on that tax collector and everyone else! And he is content to compare himself spiritually to others rather than striving to grow in true holiness. As long as he is better than the tax collector, that is good enough for him! That is the worst kind of pride and a deadly poison for our soul.
So how do we avoid getting tripped up by this spiritual pride? The remedy found in the virtue of humility. True humility is seeing that every goodness we have is a gift from our loving Lord. True humility realizes that the spiritual and material gifts we have are meant to be discovered, developed, deepened and then shared with others as freely as God has shared them with us; they ought not be hoarded with jealousy! Lastly, true humility rejoices in the gifts of others, even when they surpass ours because all goodness is by the grace of God and for his Glory. If we are humble, we are not threatened by the gifts and excellence of others.
We need to be on guard not only against pride but also against false humility which masquerades as virtue. Humility is not denying our talents or putting ourselves down. Humility is not trying to hide the things we are good at or finding every flaw in what we accomplish. Humility is not low self-esteem or self-hatred. Humility, in its most basic definition, is knowing who we are, both the good and the bad, as we stand before God.
Which leads me to the final point. No matter how how good, how holy, how gifted any one of us is, we are all the tax collector when we stand before God. All of us have ample room to grow in holiness. And that is nothing to be ashamed of! In some way, we are all weak, fallible, and fickle sinners whose hearts constantly wander away from God. It’s no secret! He already knows it! So why pretend in our prayer that the virtue and goodness we do practice is somehow due to our own efforts or accomplishments? It is good to acknowledge our sinfulness and weakness to God. He has a special place in his Divine Heart for the repentant and humble. Our psalm tells us that the Lord hears the cry of the poor. The first reading assures us that the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds and does not rest until the Most High responds. With this in mind, we would be wise to present all of our prayers with a healthy dose of humility.
As we continue with the perfect prayer of the Mass today, let’s us make the words of the tax collector our own, “Lord have mercy on me a sinner.” If we offer this prayer humbly, we can be sure that God will not only shower us with his mercy but also his limitless grace and countless blessings.
