The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Homily for Saturday of the Fourth Week in Lent

I read an interesting article yesterday about a meeting that Pope Francis had with religious priests the day before he left Buenos Aires to attend the conclave of 2013. One of them said to him: “Monsignor, travel to Rome healthy, and you will be elected pope.” The superior of the group affirms that “Bergoglio reacted with laughter and told the priest, ‘You don’t know what you are saying, they are going to elect a younger cardinal. Besides, I have planned a tactic so that they won’t elect me. I am going to enter the conclave hall hunched over with a cane. The other cardinals are going to say, “we can’t give this old man a vote.” I have already offered my resignation as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and I have a room reserved for me in a nursing home. I am going to dedicate the last years of my life to confess priests and to preach retreats to the nuns. Those are going to be my last years, but I am coming back.’” Of course, ten years later we know that the priest was correct and that Cardinal Bergoglio never returned to Argentina.

The group also asked him what the profile of the next pope should be. Bergoglio replied: “First, he has to be a man of prayer, a man united to God. Second, he has to be totally convinced that the owner of the Church is not the pope, but Jesus Christ, and he has to repeat it day and night, ‘The owner of the Church is Jesus Christ, not the pope.’ Thirdly, he has to be a bishop who seeks unity, a simple bishop, close to the people, tender. Someone who is very willing to serve. And fourthly, he has to have the courage to get rid of the mess that has gathered in the Vatican.”

Over the last ten years, Pope Francis has made many striking statements that have been quoted by the press. One that stands out for me is the answer that he gave to a reporter who asked who he really was. He responded that he was a sinner who stood in need of God’s mercy. In other words, he identified with the tax collector of whom we read in today’s Gospel.

This parable from the Gospel of St. Luke is, no doubt, very familiar to us. Because it is so familiar, it runs the risk of being disregarded. As I prayed with this Gospel passage, I asked myself whether I have ever prayed like the tax collector. Do I identify myself as a sinner in need of God’s mercy? I don’t think that I have ever stood before God in prayer and bragged about myself. Yet, I also don’t think that I regularly identify with the tax collector.

Throughout the readings for today, we are reminded that God desires our love rather than our sacrifices. The real problem with the Pharisee’s prayer is that he thinks that he has done what is necessary for him to be justified. He has forgotten that we can never earn our salvation or deserve God’s love as a reward. Let us remember today that our Lenten sacrifices must be acts of love. The most rigorous penances will never earn us a place in heaven. Let our prayer be a cry for mercy.