by Father James Rodriguez
Sometimes at weddings, the couple will choose the creation of Eve for the first reading. Adam wakes up to see his suitable partner, exclaiming: “At last!” This reading is especially fitting when the bride is late to the wedding! Jokes aside, the story conveys the loneliness in all human hearts and our longing to find someone like us, who likes us for who we are. We need to love and be loved, and even though our family and friends help us feel like we have a place in the world, only God can ultimately slake this thirst. To paraphrase St. Augustine’s famous insight, our hearts are restless until they rest in him.
Sirach tells us today that “the Lord will not delay.” Like Adam, we can be assured that “at last” we will be satisfied. If we seek God, we will ultimately find him, but our faith is not solely wrapped up in a future event. Rather, God is here with us now, listening to the prayers of even the lowliest among us, since he “knows no favorites.”
We rarely stop to think about how amazing it is that we can talk to the creator of the stars. Worse still, we sometimes reduce prayer to a simple mental activity. To the contrary, prayer is not simply thinking about God, but a moment of actual contact with the one who is beyond all of our categories and concepts. He is infinitely above us, yet he stoops down and listens as if ours were the only voice that ever mattered.
In this nearness of God, St. Paul writes to Timothy and to us in today’s second reading. As he contemplates his own nearness to death, he shares in Sirach’s confidence in the rescuing power of God. He suffered much for the Gospel, but love propelled him forward as he founded churches and spread the gift he himself had received from the one who knocked him to the ground and called him to conversion.
Even when humans failed him, St. Paul knew that he was not alone and was even able to forgive those who deserted him in times of need. Sometimes our elderly have to carry the cross of loneliness and even abandonment, but St. Paul encourages them, and all of us, to finish the race strong by fixing our eyes on the one who never leaves us.
Our Gospel today begins unusually, directed at “those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” This is the rotten fruit of sinful pride, and is directly opposed to the reconciliation for which Jesus came. He tackles it head-on with a poignant parable.
The Pharisee prays “to himself,” which we can read in two ways: he was praying quietly, or, so self-servingly as to not really be talking to God at all. If prayer is a conversation with the Most High, an exchange, then this vain babbling was nothing more than a monologue. In sharp contrast, the tax collector is humble. He “would not even raise his eyes to heaven” in recognition of his unworthiness. He speaks not to himself but authentically to God.
Every genuine conversation requires openness to the other, and this tax collector approached God with the simplicity of a friend. He knew that God was merciful, so he asked for mercy, unlike the Pharisee who simply praised himself for doing all the right things, even though his motivation was pride.
May you and I take to heart the Lord’s words today, who hears our prayer, strengthens us, and exalts the humble.
Father James Rodriguez is pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Rockaway Beach.