In today’s readings, we get a glimpse of how when people are given the grace to look within themselves, and examine the emptiness that seems to pervade their spirit so deeply at times, they finally attempt to return to God. A lot of times there are many preconceived notions that a person maintains as they seek to approach Him again; “Will he accept me back? What do I owe him? What kind of a sacrifice can I offer up that would in any way, shape or form, be pleasing to him.” One of these preconceived notions is that he desires some huge sacrifice from us, something that will quell his wrath and calm his anger. It’s a fabrication that arises from the sorrow we have for our sins, more than anything else, and make no mistake, we do need to atone for our sins in some way, in union with what Jesus wrought for us through his agonizing passion. Yet, in the first reading, God himself specifies what it is he desires: “.. what I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.”
We get the love part. He wants us to love and to be merciful, but what does he mean by “knowledge of God?” “I want knowledge of God, not holocausts.” This reiterates an earlier indictment that was pronounced on the people of Israel in the chapter just prior to the one in which we find today’s reading from the Prophet Hosea, where God declares, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children” (4:6)
The people God had chosen were lavished with divine revelation, as to God’s desires, laws, precepts, and guidance for a happy and prosperous, and above all a holy life, set apart as his special possession. And although we might not like the word possession when we speak of a loving relationship, nevertheless to be possessed by God, means to be held so closely as to be divinely embraced. It’s quite contrary to a husband who is possessive of his wife, for example. God showered such abundance on his people through the scriptures and through those who wrote it under inspiration of the Holy Spirit; the kings, prophets, and priests that he sent them, his appointed teachers, but the people didn’t listen, and they turned rather to carved idols for their hope and sustenance, to mere sculptures of things that couldn’t speak. They were shown, from one generation to the next, what pleased or displeased the one and true God, their loving Father, but they did not heed his voice. To the one who brought them out of the land of Egypt, they turned their back.
When God therefore says he desires “knowledge of God, not holocausts” he is saying that he wishes his people to take to heart what they had been taught, and not cast that precious teaching by the wayside.
All of this was to prepare man on how to truly approach God, and what sacrifice would truly be pleasing to him as we draw close to the altar of his presence.
Therefore, our attitudes, our lifestyle, our behaviours, our mannerisms, our conduct, all of this needs to be examined before we enter into God’s presence. Hence the priest’s invitation to “call to mind our sins so that we may worthily celebrate the sacred mysteries” right at the beginning of every mass. We are about to enter into his presence, and in humility we ask for mercy.
In today’s gospel, Jesus presents us with two men who go into the temple to pray. While this is already a positive sign, that these two men are even taking the time to go and pray, nevertheless Jesus highlights their attitudes so as to show us the way we need to approach God, even, and perhaps most especially, in prayer. Jesus actually tells the parable to these people who in the words of the gospel, “…prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else.” And he used the image of a man praying, because even in and during prayer, rather than hearing a sincere petition, God may in fact be seeing a pride that is lurking within that person causing them to look down on others. What’s interesting about the parable, is that the virtuous man, boasting of his virtue, isn’t even aware of it. Let’s be honest, how many times does this happen to us? We might not phrase our prayers in the same way, but how many times do our expressions reveal a hidden pride within us? Hence we need to examine ourselves before we enter into God’s presence, and like the second man, who remains in the back in his acknowledgement of his sin, bows his head, and declares he is a sinner before God, we need to humble ourselves before him as we “dare” (to use the latin expression) to call out to him. A lot of times we forget that we are about to attempt to communicate with the Creator of the world, yet we speak to him as if we are speaking to an operator over a customer care phone call. We need to remember that the One whom we are about to speak to in prayer is:
Almighty (“For nothing will be impossible with God” Lk 1:37),
Omniscient (“…your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him” Mt 6:8),
Omnibenevolent (“No one is good except God alone” Mk 10:18)
Omnipresent (“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart” Proverbs 21:2)
The first man who stood in the front of the temple reasoned with God and was sure he was right and vindicated in his own eyes, but God was saddened by his pride. God acknowledged all the good things the man was doing and will certainly, in his perfect justice attribute to the man the merits of all the good that he did, but he also took note of his pride, for who is good, but God alone.
In our pride we make of ourselves contenders with God, even if we are unaware of it. In our pride we indirectly believe ourselves better than God. Wait, “What are you talking about?” you probably just asked! Well, have you ever demanded an answer from God as to why you had to undergo something that was difficult?
“Why did it rain yesterday after I washed my car God?”
“If you’re good, why do people die of hunger in the world, or women get raped, or children get abducted?”
“Why would you allow a volcano to destroy an entire city?”
“If God is so good, why didn’t he create a world without pain, suffering and death?”
Now in all these types of questions, we are indirectly saying to God, “I would have done a better job!” And so, yes, we make ourselves contenders to him. In our pride, we fall from grace, like Satan fell from heaven like lightening, through pride. He wanted to be like God, if not greater, because that is what lust and greed do, they are never satisfied in always wanting more.
May the good Lord give us the grace of humble hearts. May he allow us to see that we need to just trust him, and put our faith in him, and not in ourselves, however good we think we may be doing. He’s got it all under control. Sometimes it may not seem like that to us, but in time, we will see. May he grant us peace, understanding and a knowledge of his ways.
Add comment
Comments