Dear Friends,
For the last 10 years, a professor of psychology I know has
begun her first class of the semester by asking students, “What do you fear
most in life?” Up to four years ago, the answer was the same. Death. More
recently, students came to fear something more than death, namely failure…the
failure of a project, a scheme, an idea or the anticipated failure of a
marriage, the stock market, a career.
Failure seems to grip the American student – and perhaps the
American public – as an ultimate thing.
I’ve read some books and articles that counsel how to
minimize failure and ensure success. In common, these texts tell us we must
rely on ourselves, sell ourselves. Not a bad idea, when taken in moderation,
but problematic when taken as the only or primary way to shape one’s activities
and goals.
Take as an example the Pharisee in today’s gospel. Before we
write him off and judge him lacking, we have to admit that he probably takes
his religious obligations more seriously than we do. Who among us fasts twice a
week and gives 10% of all we possess to the church? Moreover, the Pharisee is
also an honest man, faithful to his wife and unwilling to work as an agent of
an occupying power. He is proud of all of this – and rightly so. Like a good
salesman, he takes off before God can catalog all he says and does.
Paul, in today’s second reading does the same. Paul says of
himself: “I have fought the good fight. I have kept the faith.”
The difference between Paul and the Pharisee, though, is the
same as the difference between the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee
stands with head unbowed. Paul and the publican, on the other hand, know and
acknowledge that everything they are and have is of God. Willingly, they bow
before God, the giver of all good gifts.
In short, the Pharisee is his own horizon. He could only
find scorn in his heart for the tax collector.
The tax collector, on the other hand, makes no reference to
the Pharisee in his prayer. He does not see himself in competition with anyone
for God’s attention and love. The tax collector simply prayed: “O Lord, be
merciful to me, a sinner.”
If God is to touch us in any life-giving way, we need to
admit that we are sinners.
Once we acknowledge the sinner in us, we take the first step
to being gentle with others. We are all frail, all hurting in some way, all in
need of being held tenderly.
Today, we are invited to accept ourselves as sinners. In a
few weeks, we will be celebrating All Saints Day – the saints who have gone
before us, the saints around us, and the saints we are working so hard to
become.
Both labels apply. We are saints in process and we are
sinners.
To deny either is to shut off great possibilities for our
growth toward God, great possibilities for shaping our world as a place of
mercy and tenderness rather than confrontation and violence.
To welcome the sinner in us and the saint in process is to
open ourselves to life.
~Sister Joan Sobala
