The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds’: the truth of these words from today’s reading in Ecclesiasticus is illustrated by Jesus’ hard-hitting parable in the Gospel. The tax collector’s outward actions are worth noting. He stands at a distance, reflecting his sense of shame. Ironically his physical distance, creates a spiritual proximity to God. Also, he beats his breast, which, in a commentary on St Luke’s Gospel, St Theophilus interpreted as him ‘…striking it as it were because of the evil thoughts and moreover rousing it as if asleep.
Furthermore, the tax collector’s prayer is short, direct and full of sorrow. This is a model of prayer for us. First, it calls to mind the words of Our Lord when he says ‘… when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words’. Second, we see how the tax collector’s humility stemming from his genuine contrition, leads him to becoming closer to God.
St Anthony the Great teaches Christ’s followers to …dispose your heart towards humility…For God and His angels and saints turn away from the proud of heart…hearts that are humble and contrite, the Lord will not despise.
Contrition of heart comes from above all, an honest confession of our sins. The Sacrament of Reconciliation allows us to unburden our hearts, like the tax collector. Scripture says that ‘if we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness’. There’s a sense in which confessing our sins takes courage, but there are also amazing graces and gifts bestowed on those who confess. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that, ‘Through such an admission man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible.
