Simple Humility
In today’s Gospel we hear the proud Pharisee pray, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” In his prayer he compares himself to many other people and contrasts himself with all the great things he has done. This Pharisee was obsessed with finding his self-worth in comparing his life to others. He had a higher standing, so he thought, because he was supposedly more faithful than everyone else. In comparing ourselves to others, we lose who we truly are. We become so focused on others, on their lives, and we become egotistic. To contrast this attitude, Jesus presents us with the example of the same tax collector mentioned above, who was so ashamed of his sins that he could only muster up the words, “ God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” He had come to God in prayer, not in pride and self-acclamation, but in being who he was at that very moment,