“It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice” (Psalm 51)
Today’s Gospel offers us one of Jesus lesser known counsels on how to pray. Jesus cautions us against any approach to God in prayer, at Mass, or in other religious times, where we use our prayer to puff ourselves up or look down on others, instead of drawing into relationship with God. Jesus after his caution, holds up as a model the prayer of the tax collector. It is a prayer that summarizes the spiritual movement of Lent “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” It is a prayer that acknowledges our identity, as sinners in need of mercy and salvation, and it acknowledges our need for God who is the source of mercy and forgiveness.
When Lent began, Catholics came to Ash Wednesday service and were marked on their foreheads with a cross of ashes. Pope Francis reminded the Church in his homily on that day that this cross of ashes reminds us that we are dust, but dust that has been loved and called into life by God. Thus, Lent is a time to remember that the goal of our existence is sanctity: a movement from dust to life. The prayer of the tax collector is a great step in this movement from dust to life, for it acknowledges that we are dust, and in need of God’s help to enter into life. Today, let this simple prayer of the tax collector become ours as we conclude the 3rd week of Lent.