1. Five Sundays ago.
We saw the importance of knowing for sure that we are in the right way towards salvation. In the Gospel of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man was living a life of eating and drinking, having a good time; while Lazarus was living in poverty. The rich man landed in hell while Lazarus found himself in the bosom of
Abraham, i.e. in heaven.
The rich man is typical of all man; living a way of life doing what he wants, enjoying himself……without checking whether his way of life is leading him to heaven or not. Lazarus is not a typical man; no one wants to be a suffering poor. Yet all religious make the vow of poverty. There is something in poverty that helps make man a saint.
Today, no one checks if his way of life prepares him for judgment day. All pagans assume that their way of life leads them to a better life. All Protestants believe that merely believing that Christ is Lord is enough to bring them to heaven. And even Catholics think that merely calling themselves Catholics is enough to bring them to heaven. Worse, Popes, cardinals and bishops think that they will go to heaven just because they are so.
This laziness to check once, twice or three times whether we are truly in the right path to heaven is a common defect. Salvation is a very serious business. We cannot afford to commit a mistake. So we must check once, twice and three times….basing our check up with the very reliable foundations giving by Christ and as proposed by the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ.
That was the mistake of the rich man; he did not check his way of life of ease and luxury. And he ended up in hell. He begged Abraham if someone can be sent to his family on earth to tell them the right way to heaven. Abraham said; ‘they have the Scriptures. If they do not listen to Scriptures they will not listen to one who comes from the dead.’ Abraham was right. The rich man had no way to correct his errors. This is a description of all men today. No one ever checks whether he is in the right way to heaven. The way is clearly written in Scriptures. And no one is seriously studying Scriptures. No layman, no priest, no bishop, not even the present Pope. When they see their mistakes it will be too late.
2. The Gospel last Sunday, the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
This Gospel tell us the right way to heaven. It reminds us that salvation is a free gift from God. It is a grace that God gives freely….under one condition. If we pray like the widow; ‘constantly and without loosing heart.’ God will not give this gift to the lazy or to anyone. God, clearly said, that He will give this gift to the one who would pray unceasingly. St. Thomas described this as praying the official prayer of the Church, i.e. the eight Divine Offices (Matins, Lauds, Prime, Sext, Terce, None, Vespers and Compline) AND continue praying in-between these times.
These prayers are meant to make us join the heavenly host pray in heaven. This is unceasing prayer. Even before Vatican II, but most especially after Vatican II, even religious and priest don’t prayer these eight times. In which case God will surely not give them the grace necessary for salvation. No wonder the
Blessed Virgin said that most of the cardinals, bishops and priests are going to hell and dragging many laymen with them to hell. Why? They are not praying enough; in which case God is convinced they are not interested in being saved. So why will God save them?
3. Those who pray.
Well, one does not really have to pray unceasingly to be saved. He must just pray the right way. If we pray unceasingly but we pray the wrong way, we cannot be saved. If we say a short prayer but we say it like Dimas, the good thief, or like the Publican, then we pray well.
Why does Christ want us to pray unceasingly then. Because that is the exercise that will enable us to pray like Dimas or the Publican. It is the exercise that will enable us to say a short prayer well.
So in the Gospel for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary time, Christ teaches us how to pray well. Remember, when Christ condemned the Pharisee, he was praying. We could be condemned even while we are praying…..if we are praying the wrong way.
4. The prayer of the Pharisee and the Publican.
Both were praying. One was condemned, the other was saved. Before we explain why prayer must be unceasing, let us see the attitude needed to pray well; even while saying a short prayer.
St. Thomas of Aquinas gave us two examples of two chariot in a race. One describing the Pharisee’s prayer; the other describing the Publican’s prayer. Each chariot had two riders, describing the prayers of the Pharisee and the publican. The riders in the chariot of the Pharisee are ‘righteousness’ and ‘pride.’ While the riders in the chariot of the publican are ‘sin’ and ‘humility.’
The riders compliment each other. A person who is righteous tends to be proud; while a person who is constantly conscious that he is a sinner tends to be humble. Let us look at the chariot of the Pharisee.
The Pharisee is a righteousness man. He said so; that he was not like the rest of men who are sinners. He fasted twice a week and gave tithes. Let us accept it. He did everything right; he could be right and therefore is righteous. This however made him proud.
A proud man attributes to himself his achievements, just like politicians who make their State of the Nation address. The truth is that every good that we do is a work of God accomplished through us. And therefore, those works should be attributed to God, its true author. But the Pharisee attributed those works to himself. That is stealing what is due to God.
When a person attributes God’s good works to himself, he develops contempt for God and subsequently develops contempt for his neighbor. Thus we see the Pharisee showing contempt on the Publican. ‘ I am not like this Publican.’
St. Thomas adds; ‘the Pharisee is praying with himself and not with God.’ The Pharisees’ pride is a sign of his bad theology. From pride comes bad theology or heresy. And from pride comes all psychological illnesses or the disturbance of the mind.
What is wrong is not that he does everything right. What is wrong is that he had become proud. So there, we have the two riders in one chariot representing the Pharisees; righteousness and pride. Now, let us go to the next chariot equally with two riders; namely sin and humility. Everybody knows what is sin. Few know what is humility. Few, because it is a supernatural virtue taught to us by Christ, Himself; ‘know that I am meek and humble of heart. Though it is a supernatural virtue, as in all virtues, it has a human beginning.
The Publican, conscious of his past sins is convinced that he is a sinner and as such can commit sin or make a mistake any time. In other words, in whatever he does, he is capable of making a mistake. That thought is a sign of humility. He can never say ‘I am right’ with certainty.
5. Conclusion of St. Thomas of Aquinas.
The publican who has sins but who also have humility can most certainly go to heaven than the Pharisee who is right in everything he does but who has pride. Pride slows down the Pharisee; humility hastens the publican. God humiliates the proud and exalts the humble. So the Publican with sin but accompanied by humility can be saved better than the Pharisee who does everything right but who has pride.
Humility cancels the sin of the publican. Pride cancels the righteousness of the Pharisee;
6. Better still.
Let us interchange the drivers in the chariots. What if righteousness is accompanied by humility (instead of pride)…..all the more the soul would be greatly holy. What if sin is accompanied by pride? Then one’s condemnation is better assured.
In the Gospel Christ tells us to be like the publican who had combined his sinfulness with humility. He was praised by Christ. But better still if he can combine his humility with righteousness. But undoubtedly we must avoid being like the Pharisee who combined righteousness with pride. Or worse, let us avoid being a sinner and at the same time being proud.
7. Our Pope, cardinals and bishops.
It is bad enough for the Pharisee to be right in all things but proud. It is worse for Pope Francis to be wrong in many things and still be proud. When the Pope says that adulterers can remarry and still receive Holy Communion, he is down right wrong because his teaching is against the teachings of God. And when he insist on this as he did for the last three synods and up to the present, inspite of the correction and objection given by majority of the bishops, that is a sign of great pride.
His errors from his first speech as a Pope entitled ‘love without dogma’, where he completely demolished the main theological structure of the Catholic Doctrine, down to ‘Amores Laetitia’ which was rained with hundreds of refutations, shows he does not want to be corrected. This is a sign of pride; earlier noticed by the Nuncio to Argentina, Msgr. Bernardini, who said ‘Es un hombre enfermo de poder.’ Pope Francis is worse than the Pharisee in being righteous while being wrong in many things and proud, when he has nothing to be proud of.
Let us go a worse scenario; Pope Francis, like most of the Bishops, and like the publican a sinner committing many times the sin of Scandal by encouraging adulterers to remain in their adultery and even to do worse by receiving holy communion, two serious sin. Add to their sin the sin of pride in that they are sure they are right when they are wrong, we have the worse combination of drivers in the chariot. And that is the state of the whole Church today.
8. The need for a publican Pope.
We need a Pope who would pray like a publican. Conscious of his being a sinner like St. Augustine, making ‘Retractations’ when he commits mistakes. And remaining humble by confessing that he can always commit a mistake in everything he does especially when making judgments on marriage; so he continuously ask for right advice to seek God’s Will in all things, and not the will of George Soros.