Saturday of the Third Week of
Lent
Praying
with the Right Attitude
The readings of the day focus on the attitude or
the disposition towards Prayer, in other words how are we praying to
God.
In the first reading, Prophet Hosea presents to us the
prayer of repentance of the people of Israel who are afraid of God’s
punishments. They were in fact complaining that God has abandoned them, hurt
them and also have a feeling that only God can heal and save them. So they offer
a prayer of repentance.
But when we reflect this repentant
prayer, this appears superficial and their attitude in prayer and their love
towards God was just momentary. There was no real repentance.
God was not pleased with this
attitude, this empty expression of words and offerings. Their words seem highly
devotional but hearts and actions are not resonating with their words, there
was No harmony between their words and attitude. That’s why God condemns their
sinful attitude.
Similarly in
the Gospel too we find this type of attitude towards God in Prayer.
The societal
understanding:
There are two people who went to
pray, A Pharisee and a tax
collector but only one goes home “justified”. The two persons in today’s Gospel represent
two kinds of personalities, two kinds of attitudes and two verdicts. In
people’s eyes:
● A Pharisee is considered a model of
virtue and wisdom,While
● A
Tax collector is considered a sinner and disgraceful to the community
The prayer of the Pharisee:
●
He prayed with exalted
tone filled with pride
●
He lists all his merits
( fasting and going beyond the rules)
●
He compares himself to
others (looks down on others)
●
His focus was on the
flaws of the other while losing sight of his need
●
In fact, it appears
like praying but it’s a kind of self praise and satisfaction.
The prayer of the tax collector,
on the other hand,
●
He looks at his
miserable situation of heart ( life)
●
He acknowledges his
sinful nature
●
He looks and begs for
God’s mercy
St.
Paul writing to Corinthians says, “
Pride puffs up, whereas love builds up”( 1 Corinthians 8:1). The attitude
of pride and arrogance pushes us away from reality, from others, despises and
looks down on others and blinds our hearts. Whereas love unites and helps to
see ourselves in our real situation and welcomes the weak and embraces. This
was what happened to Pharisee and the people of Israel. Their love for God was
momentary, it only appeared on external offerings and utterance of few
devotional words. Therefore, to be pleased and
be justified in God’s sight the readings give us a better solution.
➔
God requires of us is
genuine loving actions not empty words and rituals
➔
God requires of is
knowledge of God (profound relationship with God) not knowledge about God
Therefore, today it is not how many
masses we participated, or how many prayers we have said but how our attitude
and disposition in our relationship with God and others. Our attitude should
spring from our prayer and our prayer should spring from our way of life. So we need to be humble in our
approach (in our hearts, feeling and thoughts, words and actions); Sincere
contrition and open the door of mercy of God; Sincere love towards God and
others.
And
this lent, let us choose to fast from arrogance, pride and superficial
offerings and prayers.
