Scripture reading: Luke 18:9-14

Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else,

Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself,

'I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here.

I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get."

The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said,
'God, be merciful to me, a sinner'.

This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.

Short Reflection: Prayer remains open

Pride can not admit mercy. That was the problem of the Pharisee in the parable of the tax collector. The Pharisee could tell God all he did, but found it hard to tell God who he really was. His prayer instead was a list of boasts about his religious observance. The tax collector, on the other hand, knew his identity before God: a sinner desiring mercy and spoke from the heart.

Mercy is a total gift from God who looks at the whole person, just as when , for example, you look at your child and love him or her totally, weakness and all else. We often treat friends with the same attitude.

God is the one whose heart wants to forgive and to make us whole. Jesus' bias toward the poor and the outsider was something that powerful and established religions did not want to see. Their power was based on controling the flow of information and built on structural blindness to the goodness of the person. Jesus came with a personal vision and insight to challenge all others, including every individual, group, society and church. He was personally going to pay the price of all sin.

Story: Bruno and the Bullfrog

The prayer of St Bruno was being interrupted by the croaking of the bullfrog. When he could stand it no longer he shouted out the window, 'Would you, please, be quiet! I am trying to pray.'

So all went quiet and Bruno settled down to pray. However, a voice inside him kept insisting,
'Perhaps the frog was praying too, and God may be as pleased with its prayer as with yours.'

Then Bruno ordered all the frogs to sing. From then on he was no longer distracted by the song
of the bullfrog as he had learned not to fight the prayer of creation but to be in harmony with it.

There is a saying that to name the demon is to slay him. In other words, to become aware of what is
making a person depressed or desolate is to go a long way towards freeing them from its negative effects.
To name an evil is to drain it of its lifesource, to bring it out into the open.
(Peter Hannah SJ, Follow your dream - Restoring lost intimacy, www.columba.ie)

Today's prophet: Daniel

The book of Daniel in the Bible was written to encourage and inspire the Jewish people in difficult times and harsh foreign rulers who wanted them to give up their faith.

At a young age, he was carried off to Babylon where he was trained in the service of the court. He became famous for interpreting dreams and rose to become one of the most important figures in the court and lived well into the reign of the Persian conquerors. He retained his high position there and had influence in the decision to restore the Jews to their homeland.

Daniel was a larger than life kind of guy. His short book
is full of adventures and visions - some of which seem very weird and wonderful. Daniel survived some extraordinary adventures life the lions den and the fiery furnace. I'll say no more. Read the short Book of Daniel again and enjoy it.
 
His fundmental message is God is merciful and always takes care of his people.

A gentle call to action

Give someone who has hurt you and let you down another chance.
The Christian Church is the church of another chance. Are we not Christian?

When you see or hear of someone getting caught for wrongdoing, they may or may not be guilty but before you judge them too harshly. Even if they are guilty of the offence remember that you don't know the full background, history, personal  stresses, addictions or obsessions they may suffer with. Even judges in court do not get all the details right all the time.

The crowd did nothing to help Jesus in his trial and crucifixion. They got caught up with the excitment of the day and followed one another and their leaders.

It is easy to condemn people we don't care about but surely our first reaction as Christians should be first say a short prayer for them and their family. Then if it is our business, try to get their side of the story. If they are guilty we need to try to understand why they did what they did. No matter how guilty we think they are that should not necessarily include their family.

Then remind yourself of St Paul comment: ‘There go I, but for the grace of God’.

Prayer

Jesus,
you show us the forgiveness of God.
May we walk in the path of forgiveness:
forgive us for how I have wronged others
especially when we looked down on people.
and let ourselves and you down.
May we live always in the knowledge
Of your compassion and forgiveness. Amen.

Prayer image of the Day.