How to pray correctly

 Jesus then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. "Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity - greedy, dishonest, adulterous - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.' But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.' I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18, 9-14)

Just before this gospel selection Jesus spoke about how important it is to pray and never stop praying (Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge - Luke 18, 1-8). Today, Jesus teaches us how to pray correctly. He does this through the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.

Jesus tells us that both Pharisee and tax collector went up to the temple to pray. Both had good intentions. Both of them were sincere.

It is very easy for us to think that the Pharisee was a hypocrite, a double-face. He was not! A Pharisee, was a member of an ancient Jewish sect that emphasized strict observance of the Law of Moses. So, when the one in the parable says in prayer that he fasted twice a week, paid tithes on his whole income, he was saying the truth. He was not lying.

What was wrong with the Pharisee? Jesus said it expressly: He was “convinced of [his] own righteousness and despised everyone else”. Let us remember his prayer: “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity - greedy, dishonest, adulterous - or even like this tax collector”. Jesus noted that the Pharisee “spoke this prayer to himself!” His prayer was: I am, I fast, I pay, and I am not like everybody else. This gives us the idea that he considered himself to be self-sufficient. He did not need God, so much so that he forgot to ask at least for God’s help. Yes, he thanked God but not for the gifts he received from Him. “I thank God because I am not like the others” is not a real prayer; it is self-praise! He exalted himself, and went back home empty-handed.

The tax collector was a sinner and he acknowledged that he was. He stood at a distance and did not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed. His prayer was simple: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner”. He humbled himself before God and asked for His mercy, which he received for, as Jesus said: “He went home justified”.

Thinking about these two persons, we come to realize that we could be either one or the other, or both in different times and occasions. A Pharisee is not automatically a bad person. Saint Paul was a Pharisee and he was a good one who accepted Jesus as his saviour. He was aware that he needed Him! He needed God!

A Christian is not automatically a good person. There are good Christians and bad ones. Good Christians try to do God’s will, to rely on God’s help. They seek and accept the support of the Christian community and offer their help to others. Bad Christians are those who think only of their needs. They think they are better than all the others because they follow the laws of their choice, and instead of doing God’s will they do their own will. They make laws for themselves, and they obey only these laws. They become laws for themselves.

Let us remember that salvation only comes to us by serving God and our fellow human beings, and by accepting to be loved by God and do our best to love others as we love ourselves.

When we want to meet God in our lives, let us not be like the Pharisee in the parable who only boasted about how good he was. Let us be like the tax collector and accept our need for God and ask for His mercy. If we allow Him and are willing to accept it, God showers His mercy on us abundantly, and He shows it through our relationship with the other fellow travellers. This is how we should pray in order to seek and keep a healthy relationship with God.