There are so many things that separate and alienate us from one another - the way we look, the way we think, the color of our skin, the accent with which we speak. We disagree about the what should be done and how it should be done. We can have the same goals, but be so blind to one another that we actually work against and in spite of each other. At times we even compare ourselves to one another and that can easily put us in the frame of mind that we are competitors. In today’s gospel we see two men praying: a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee obviously takes his religion seriously. He fasts, prays and tithes his money and does much more than the religious laws of his time require. But his downfall is that all he does makes him feel superior to others and deserving of God’s attention and graciousness. His prayer is really about himself, a song of praise to his ego. Last week in the gospel Jesus encouraged us to persevere in prayer. Perseverance in prayer continues to bring us into God’s presence and into his mind and heart. As we grow in our knowledge and love of God we see his great desire that we would all be one. That was part of the priestly prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper: "May they all be one. Father, may they be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me. I have given them the glory you gave to me, that they may be one as we are one. With me in them and you in me, may they be so completely one, that the world will realize that it was you who sent me and that I have loved them as much as you loved me." (John 21:21-23)

One of the Psalms that encourages and inspires me is Psalm 139. In it is expressed our joy, confidence and gratitude in God’s great love for us. It is that joy, confidence and gratitude that leads us to the mind and heart of God and fans the flames of his love in our attitudes, words and actions. Here is an excerpt from Psalm 139. I encourage you to read and pray it in its entirety:

O Lord, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand.
You understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know the whole of it.
Behind me and before me,
you hem me in and rest your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your spirit?
From your presence, where can I flee?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there,
if I sink to the nether world, you are present there.
If I take the wings of the dawn,
if I settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall guide me,
your hand hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and night shall be my light,"
for you darkness itself is not dark
and night shines as the day.
Darkness and light are the same.

How humbling and wonderful to know we are so loved by God. There are many trials in life that try to cloud this reality. His ever present love and knowledge of us is our only true source of strength and hope. The prayer of the tax collector, "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner" is our prayer. We need the mercy of God. It brings peace to our hearts and unites us with God. His mercy also makes us one with all people, since we all need his mercy. To be merely human is to be incomplete. To be fully human is to be part of the life of God and part of the lives of each other through, with and in him. Humility in the face of God is so life giving and enables us to be who we were created to be and allows God to be who he is for us. Our lives are not about ourselves, they are about our life in God. "O Lord, thank you for being merciful to us who are sinners!"

Father Walden