Comments Off on Homilette – Fr. Lawrence – 3/28/25 – “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”
Homilette – Fr. Lawrence – 3/28/25 – “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”
Dear Brothers and sisters – I love this parable. It contains a very clever snare. When we read it, we are surely tempted to say something like, “O God, I thank you that I am not like the Pharisee in this story.” We judge the Pharisee exactly as he judges the tax collector. The finger in the parable is not pointing at the Pharisee, it is pointing directly at us, right out of the parable. I can only speak for myself, but I find myself many times during the day judging others, politicians, people in the news, whom I don’t know, have never even met, and most insidiously, the brothers who live with me. But in the end, this is a not necessarily a bad thing, because, especially during Lent, I am given the opportunity to see myself, to recognize that my attitude is a direct violation of Christ’s most repeated commandment, “DON’T JUDGE OTHERS,” so I can never claim to be above the Pharisee or the rest of humanity, but say, with all honesty, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”