In today’s Gospel for the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the Church begins to prepare us for the coming Lenten Fast. In today’s parable, we see two very different responses to God. The Pharisee considered himself a righteous man. He thanks God for this and points out that he is not like other sinners, and especially not like the Publican (or tax-collector) in whose presence he was praying. The Publican, by contrast, did not even dare to lift his eyes to heaven, but could only repeat: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Jesus says of him: “This man, I tell you, went home justified; the other did not. For everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, but anyone who humbles himself will be raised up.”
This parable presents us with a warning. We do need to pray and to fast, to keep the commandments and to give arms. These are all good things. But with them comes the danger of pride, for it is very easy to use the good that we do to prop up our own egos and make us feel superior to others. Such pride really blinds us to our own reality and to all that we need to repent of. It is not for nothing that the early Fathers regarded pride it as the most dangerous of the vices, for it prevents us from doing the one thing necessary, which is turning to God in sincere repentance.
But this parable also presents us with an example of true repentance in the person of the Publican who knew his need for God and could only say: “God be merciful to me a sinner!” He did not compare himself to anyone else, but was only conscious of his own situation before God, knowing his great need of God. Growth in humility can, for many of us, be one of the most difficult things that there is to learn, for we so easily compare ourselves to others or seek to justify what we do. Yet growth in humility lies at the very heart of our Christian life, for only in knowing and accepting who we truly are before God can we turn to Him in genuine repentance. And the point of our Lenten prayer and fasting is precisely to help us to open ourselves to God in this way.