|
|
||||||
|
What a contrast between these two men in the Gospel! One of them observes the Law of God perfectly (at least he thinks he does), while the other is unquestionably a sinner, an outcast tax collector who has probably defrauded people countless times. Yet one goes away afterwards "at rights with God" and it is not the apparently religious person. The Pharisee almost seems to feel that God should be grateful to him for being among a small, minority of "good" people. He does not need God; God needs him. The tax collector, on the other hand, has no illusions of the kind of person he is. He also knows —which the Pharisee does not — that he will never get anywhere except by the mercy of a compassionate God. The most terrible thing is not to be a sinner but to be in denial about one's sinfulness. Is it not this which makes the saint so saintly? The tax collector's awareness of his sinfulness brought him closer to God and made him aware of how dependent he was on God's love and grace. Give me the grace, O Lord, to acknowledge my sinfulness and to know that Your loving mercy is always close at hand. |
|
- END -
P R A Y I N G W I T H T H E C H U R C H
| INTENTION : |
That we may recognise and revere the cultural and spiritual riches of the different ethnic groups and religious minorities present in every country.
|
|
This month we are invited to give thanks to God for the variety of gifts he has given to humankind. There is hardly a country in the world today which is not marked by the coming together of different cultural traditions. It ought to be recognised that religion has influenced cultures and is the soul of a particular culture. Vatican II also mentions the good that is to be found in the rites and customs of peoples, recognising this as having been sown by God's Word (LG 17). In fact, Christians belong to many different cultures which have been deeply marked by the Christian faith. In order to appreciate these cultural and religious riches we are called to make an effort to understand and appreciate all that is good in another person and in that person's culture. We are invited to look upon our fellow human beings with the eyes of God who created man in his own image and likeness and who saw all that he had made and found it very good. We are therefore encouraged to consider prayerfully how God is at work in all peoples. In this context our prayer will be that the ongoing dialogue between the Gospel message and cultures may produce fruits of true freedom, joy and peace for the whole of humanity. | |
|
- END - | |