“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1). How awesome it is to consider that our great majestic Lord of love, creates each of us in love and lavishes love on us continuously! What assurance and consolation it gives us, knowing that God loves is steadfast and faithful, not because of our merit, but because of God’s own nature! In his book, The Name of God is Mercy, Pope Francis states that God is perfect, infinite love and to love is to bear the identity of mercy. Mercy is described as God’s divine attitude, how God opens God’s heart to compassionately embrace fallen humanity, forgiving us again and again.
We may contemplate next Sunday’s gospel (Luke 18:9-14) against this background of God’s identity as the infinite Lover and Giver of mercy. Luke narrates a parable about two seemingly different men who went to the temple to pray to God; one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, prayed by outlining to God how he strictly observed the Mosaic laws concerning fasting and almsgiving, and the commandments against stealing and adultery. With contemptuous judgment, he then thanked God for his righteousness, that he was not like the sinners, thieves, or rogues, not even like the tax collector who was also present in the temple.
Tax collectors were known for making money by exploiting the community to support themselves and the nation’s Roman occupiers. But the tax collector sensing his need for God’s forgiveness took a penitential posture. He beat his breast, humbly placed himself in the presence of our Holy God, and confessed his unworthiness, his sinfulness, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” God responded to his earnest prayer by removing the weight of the tax collector’s guilt and sin. By the unction of Christ’s love and mercy, he went home and reconciled to God. In contrast, the Pharisee’s prayer presented his merits to God, rather than acknowledging his need for God to live a holy, reconciled life. Asking for nothing, he received nothing.
Like us all, the two men were created by God in love and God’s love embraced them both. They both needed God’s mercy and God stood ready to offer it to them. The real problem was that the Pharisee was inhibited by tradition and culture, from perceiving his need for mercy. He presumed a righteousness and worthiness in God’s presence based on his community identity and actions, while “the other” was perceived as unrighteousness. But Christ came to assure everyone of God’s love and that we all have access to His forgiveness through the riches of His grace and mercy. Our holiness is rooted in Christ and entering God’s kingdom requires a heart that acknowledges a need for God in Christ.
The parable invites us to pray earnestly and with openness, acknowledging God’s power and glory and our need for his mercy. Are we prepared to humbly examine our interior learned attitudes that make us contemptuous or unloving toward some of our neighbors? Are we prepared to honestly tell God in Christ the truth about our deep inner failings, to humbly empty ourselves at His feet and so receive His loving mercy? God’s identity is indeed love and mercy. Thankfully, the Church offers all persons the opportunity for confession, and we are confident that God in Christ so passionately loves us, that in mercy He always forgives us.
“Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immoral One have mercy upon us.”
