Sister Kate’s “Gospel Question of the Week” (Luke 18: 9-14) …Weekend of 10/26-27/2013 … 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time. This weekend’s Holy Gospel teaches us a lesson on the difference between pride and humility. Further, the passage underlines the fact that the person of pride is so full of him/herself that there is no room for God to have a place! Do you know any people like this? Jesus uses a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector in this Gospel passage to remind us that God hears the prayers of those who approach Him in prayer with humility. God did not hear the prayer of the Pharisee because he exalted himself. His prayer was a prayer of thanksgiving, announcing to God his freedom from sin and detailing his fidelity in observing the prescribed fast and in giving tithes. The Pharisee here is a perfect example of the persons we describe as “it’s all about me!” The tax collector’s prayer, “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner” was heard because he humbled himself, acknowledging his sins and requesting God’s mercy. What a difference in how God is approached in prayer. Sooooo…in today’s Gospel, Jesus invites us to make a pilgrimage from pride to humility. How do we do this? Here are a few suggestions: we can practice humility by being sensitive to the feelings of others, thus becoming sensitive to God…we can practice humility by having the correct approach in our prayer life (by including praise and worship, thanksgiving and our request for pardon and forgiveness for our sins, along with our petitions)…we can practice humility in our day's work and our day's recreation (if we offer these actions for the honor and glory of God, then our prayers will be “pleasing in His sight”). Besides these, we can move toward humility by ridding ourselves of self-justification. This, of course, will take a lifetime of effort to do, but God will be aware of our progress and it will please Him. Remember that those who justify themselves leave no room to receive grace. If we are proud and complacent, there is not much room for God. On the other hand, if we are truly humble, we will find grace, mercy and peace. There must be a space in our lives for grace to enter and work a miracle in our hearts. A summary lesson of this parable for us is that we need to keep our focus entirely on our relationship with God, recognizing that we are constantly in need of Hismercy and forgiveness. Hence let us make the tax collector’s prayer, “Be merciful to me, a sinner” our daily prayer. THIS is the bottom liner when it comes to being humble! Here is a funny story. A clergyman had reached the end of his rope, and he decided to try some other way of life that might give him a greater personal satisfaction. He was very disappointed to discover that a job was hard to come by. At last, he landed a job in the local zoo. Unfortunately, when he went there, the job was not exactly available just yet, but the manager asked him to consider taking a temporary job, until the other one was vacant. As it happened the chimpanzee had died, and had not yet been replaced. The chimp was a great favorite with the children, and the cage could not be left empty for long. They had a chimp suit, and the man was asked if he would mind getting into the suit, and taking the place of the chimp. All he’d have to do was to roll around a few times, eat a banana, go back in the back for a rest, etc. He decided to give it a go. He was an instant success. The children gathered around his cage. He soon discovered that he was now getting much more attention than he ever got in the pulpit. One day, he decided to really get into the act. He jumped up, grabbed an overhead bar, and began to swing to and fro, to the delighted screams of the children. He got carried away with himself, and he really began to swing with gusto. Unfortunately, after one huge effort, his hands (paws?) slipped, and he went flying over the partition into the cage next door. A huge tiger approached, and, forgetting that he was supposed to be a chimp, he screamed ‘Help! Help!, to which the tiger whispered sharply, ‘Shut up, you fool; I’m a minister too!’ Think about it…we are all the same when we stand before God….! GOSPEL QUESTION FOR THE WEEK: Have you left any room in your heart for God…or is it all filled with you?