TRUE PRAYER
HOSEA 5:15-6:6; PSALM 51; LUKE 18:9-14
Through the mouth of Prophet Hosea God says “What I want is love, not sacrifice and holocausts.” God wants true love not emotions and religiosity. Oftentimes, in the presence of God we easily express emotions and assume holy and spiritual moods but deep within us there is no love.
Similarly, today’s psalm reechoes saying; “What I want is love, not sacrifice.” Therefore, we must abhor all forms of shallow or false worship. The gospel presents us with the parable of the pharisee and tax collector. It speaks of two men, two prayers, two attitude, and two verdicts. Basically, it demonstrated two forms of prayers: a man who declared himself righteous before God and the one who accepted his unrighteousness and asked for God’s mercy.
In true prayer we express love, accept our faults and ask for God’s mercy and then we are sanctified. But false prayer is all about us, like the Pharisee false prayer is all about what God can do for us and a warm feeling of self-satisfaction and self-righteousness. Jesus exhorts us saying “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.”
LET US PRAY
O Lord, our God give us the grace of true worship and penance that we may enjoy the fuller effect of this Lenten season. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
