The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

In today's Gospel Christ presents us with two very different types of prayers. We see one man's prayer which is filled with pride and vanity. This man lived a very just life and practiced many virtues, but there was something terribly wrong with his prayer. In spite of all the good that this man has done his prayer is not pleasing to God. Elsewhere Jesus informs us that unless our justice exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees we will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This man's prayer was a failure because he exalted himself rather than God. In attributing the good things he found in himself to himself rather than to God, he has become a liar and a thief. He is a liar because these things were not his doing but God's; likewise he is a thief because he has stolen the honor and glory that belongs to God alone. No matter how good and holy a life this man had lead all the goodness of it has been destroyed at this very moment because of his arrogance, pride and vanity.

This is very much like the fall of Lucifer and the other bad angels. They were ensnared by the very perfections with which God had endowed them. And in exalting themselves equal to or even greater than God, they committed a most unpardonable offence. They refused to accept the truth that their very perfections were gifts from God. And we are given the words of St. Michael the Archangel: "Who is like unto God?!" The angels' sin is unpardonable because they have complete understanding and knew and understood exactly what they were doing. They were not deceived or tricked in any way. They made a willful and conscience decision and because of their perfections their decision is eternal and final. Therefore there is no opportunity for repentance. Thus they have eternally separated themselves from God.

Chronologically, we next see this sin committed by Adam and Eve. The temptation offered by Satan was the same: "you will be like unto God." This original sin brought forth much misery, pain, suffering and even death to mankind, but not automatic damnation. Man was given an opportunity for repentance. A redeemer was promised. Man's punishment was less than that of the angels because men are created a little less than the angels. Men were not endowed with as perfect an understanding and will as the angels received. Man was deceived even though he should not have allowed himself to be duped. He was given enough understanding and free will to know that there is only one God. Man knew that he was a creature and that God is not. Yet, he allowed his intellect to be clouded by the pride, arrogance, and vanity suggested by the devil. Thus man freely chose to have a clouded and weekend intellect and will. And this is what Adam has passed on to all of us (with the solitary exception of the Blessed Virgin Mary). We could continue to enumerate the many occurrences of this same sin throughout history, but it is clear enough that this most abominable sin destroys all the good that man has or does. Men as long as they live here on earth still have the opportunity for repentance. But, it appears the greater the gifts that God has given that the harder it is for man to repent. The bigger they are the harder they fall. Some of the most gifted men of this world whether their gift was intelligence, beauty, artistic talent, or whatever have failed to live a virtuous life and are now burning in Hell because they exalted themselves. It takes just a little bit of pride to ruin a life of goodness.

Now there were two men who went up to pray and we have so far only focused on the first. Let us now consider the other.

This man did not have any good deeds to present before himself or God. He came before God as an empty vessel in need of being filled. This man in spite of all his sins was full of humility. Humility is the truth and this is pleasing to God. In acknowledging his own unworthiness and his greatest need for mercy, his prayer is answered and he is justified. He is lifted up or as the Gospel tells us today he is exalted whereas the first man is humbled. "He who exalts himself shall be humbled and he who humbles himself shall be exalted."

Let us work and pray that we may resist and overcome the temptations to pride and always strive to be humble.

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