The Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee (33rd) (2 Tim. 3:10–15; Lk. 18:10–14)

Yesterday the Gospel taught us persistence in prayer, and today it teaches us humility—the sense of having no claim to be heard. Do not assert any right to be heard; instead, approach prayer as one who is worthy of no attention whatsoever, and who yet dares to open his mouth and lift up prayer to God solely because of the Lord’s boundless condescension toward us, poor as we are. Let it not even occur to you to think: I have done this or that; grant me therefore such and such. Whatever you may have done, consider it your duty; you were obligated to do all of it. Had you not done it, you would have been punished, but having done it, there is no reason to be rewarded—you have shown nothing exceptional. Look at the Pharisee: he enumerated his claims to be heard—and left the church with nothing. It was not that what he said he did was wrong; he was right to act as he described. What was wrong was that he presented it as something exceptional, when having done it he should have thought nothing more about it. Lord, deliver us from this Pharisaic sin! In words, few people speak as he did; but in the feeling of the heart, few people are not like him. For why do people pray poorly? Because they feel that they are already in good standing before God without prayer.