October 25: Preparing to Celebrate Sunday’s Mass / Preparándonos para Celebrar la Misa Dominical

All good literature, movies, and television programs about “courtroom drama” are sure to include this question: “Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”  This Sunday’s Mass will include the Gospel passage from Luke 18, 9-14: the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, both of whom are found praying in the temple. Notice how each of them tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Indeed, the Pharisee was telling the truth as he prayed: he was living an upright life, he was doing everything he claimed to be doing. But he was not really praying – he was giving God an inventory of his good deeds: “I fast, I give ten percent of my income….” Clearly, he had a good self-image and he prefaced all of what he said with, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers….” But, just like the Pharisees of that time and our own time, his high opinion of himself depended on his low opinion of others. Does that sound at all familiar to us?

Most of us would be too clever to boast openly of the things we do, but there are subtle ways of putting others down in order to make ourselves appear better. How does it work? We cynically develop an eye for the worst in other people. It allows us to say to ourselves that at least we’re not as bad as they are. But no personal or communal transformation comes about in this way, because we are looking at the wrong people – we should be looking at ourselves.

Might we need to learn to pray as the tax collector does in the parable? Are we willing to learn to say, “God, me merciful to me, a sinner!” Jesus’ point is that that is the sincerest form of prayer: it is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth ... and it can transform our lives and the life of our community in a profound way.

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Con demasiada frecuencia pretendemos ser mejores de lo que realmente somos. Nos ponemos máscaras y no nos atrevemos a mostrar nuestra verdadera identidad, ni siquiera ante Dios. 

En la Misa del domingo, usando la parábola del fariseo y del publicano (Lucas 18, 9-14), el Señor nos va a dar el siguiente mensaje: Pónganse ante Dios tal como son – sean humildes y honestos con ustedes mismos, y así aprenderán a vivir sin pretensiones ante Dios y ante la gente que les rodea. Tal actitud nos acerca más, sin falsedad, a Dios, a nosotros mismos, y a nuestros hermanos y hermanas.

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En la Misa, como siempre cuando estamos congregados alrededor de la Mesa del Señor, vamos a dar gracias a Dios por habernos enriquecido con la gracia de Jesús, con su Evangelio, y con nuestra vida parroquial y familiar.