(Hosea 6:1-6; Ps 51; Lk 18:9-14)<\/p>\n
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Did you know that disillusionment is not necessarily a negative reality? It just means one was living an illusion, and has now become aware of it.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s readings invite us to let go of any illusion regarding our faith life, become totally aware of who we are, our need for mercy, and come to God for forgiveness and healing.<\/p>\n
The Pharisee in today\u2019s gospel was living the illusion that he had no sin, and that his religious actions earned him God\u2019s favor. He trusted in himself, to the point of praying \u201cto himself!\u201d That makes sense, because after the glory (shekinah<\/em>) of God did not return to the second temple, the Pharisees concluded if they could keep the law perfectly, then the glory of God would return to the temple. Not only that, the Pharisee was judgmental, and looked on others with scorn.<\/p>\n From the earliest days of the Church, we have made the tax collector\u2019s prayer our own. In the Penitential Rite we pray, \u201cLord, have mercy.\u201d Even in the Gloria we plead, \u201cHave mercy on us.\u201d These words have developed into the well-known Jesus prayer, \u201cLord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner.\u201d This is a beautiful profession of faith summing up the essentials of what we know and believe about our Lord. In these few simple words, we confess our sinfulness, we cry out for God\u2019s mercy like the tax collector, and we open ourselves up to receiving God\u2019s forgiveness and healing. According to the Catechism, this prayer is so powerful that \u201cby it the heart is opened to human wretchedness and the Saviour\u2019s mercy\u201d (CCC 2667).<\/p>\n The first reading reflects the stance of the tax collector. Through Hosea God is calling God\u2019s people to come back to God, to repent, to enter into an intimate relationship with God, rather than dutiful observance or ritual behavior. God desires relationship more than ritual, steadfast love rather than sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. The psalm reiterates that statement by Hosea, and adds the dimension of being washed and cleansed, forgiven and healed, and the importance of a broken and contrite heart.<\/p>\n God wants merciful people, not heroic sacrifices. God want us to know how love works intimately and then we can put less emphasis on our gestures of self-sacrifice. The Pharisee is the common, heroic \u201csacrificer.\u201d People often do not realize that this gesture largely feeds the ego and one\u2019s sense of self much more than anything else. That is what God does not need.\u00a0 We need it. Sacrifice can easily and even unconsciously become our attempt to control God. It looks like we are giving, but there can also be a lot of \u201ctaking\u201d mixed in.\u00a0 The social payoffs are so ego-inflating that our \u201csacrificing\u2019 can become attempts to build a more positive self-image by distinguishing ourselves from others. Note the Pharisee\u2019s words, \u201cI am not like the rest of men, grasping, crooked and adulterous.\u201d<\/p>\n In him, that self-serving dimension is clear, and precisely what we are to avoid. Jesus is not upset at sinners – he is only upset with people who do not think they are sinners! The Pharisee is a public \u201choly\u201d man who is not holy at all. The tax collector in Israel is a public sinner, with no credits to his name whatsoever, who ends up being the one forgiven and justified. We truly need to learn the meaning of the words, \u201cWhat I want is mercy not sacrifice, knowledge of God, not burnt offerings in the temple.\u201d<\/p>\n The Eucharist is just the opposite of any illusion. We humbly admit we are \u201ctax collectors\u201d in need of mercy in the penitential rite, experience God\u2019s mercy as forgiveness and healing as we ponder God\u2019s word and receive the very body and blood of Jesus.<\/p>\n May our celebration send us out, forgiven and justified, to share this good news of God\u2019s unconditional love and mercy with the world.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HOMILY LENT WEEK 03 06 \u2013 Year II Letting Go of Living in Illusion (Hosea 6:1-6; Ps 51; Lk 18:9-14) ******************************************** Did you know that disillusionment is not necessarily a negative reality? It just means one was living an illusion, and has now become aware of it. Today\u2019s readings invite us to let go of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies","category-lent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3388"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3390,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388\/revisions\/3390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Pharisee-Publican-200x300.jpg\")
The tax collector, on the other hand, had no illusions about himself. He knew he did not measure up and didn\u2019t claim to be holy. He realized how needy he was and so he pleaded with God, \u201cBe merciful to me a sinner.\u201d What was lacking in the Pharisee\u2019s prayer \u2013 humility, recognition of his need and repentance \u2013 made up the whole of the tax collector\u2019s plea.<\/p>\n