Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like yours!
I want to start this reflection with a
question: What kind of heart do you have? do you have the heart of a pharisee
or the heart of a tax collector?
There is an Austrian American writer called
Peter Drucker that made this distinction
between being busy and being productive by saying that being busy is simply
being active doing things right, while being productive is about getting the
right things done.
He also made the distinction between being efficient and being effective by saying that efficiency is \"doing things right, \" while effectiveness is \"doing the right things\"
It's very easy for us to be busy but not always to be productive. We really might strive to be efficient but not always effective. I mean we are doing things right but not doing the right things.
We just heard the
second letter of Paul to Timothy. This is a personal letter Paul, was
imprisoned in Rome, likely shortly before his death, and is considered to be
his final known letter. We all know that St Paul was a busy man, he worked so
hard his entire life and in fact the words we heard today were the last words
he wrote.
He said: I have
fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.
Saint Paul brought
the gospel to various nations, especially in the eastern Mediterranean,
throughout his four major missionary journeys. His ministry extended throughout
much of Asia Minor, Greece, and finally Rome. So, brought the gospel to more
people than anyone ever.
Paul was not one of
the Twelve Apostles, but he was directly called and sent by the risen Christ,
therefore, he is rightly called “Apostle Paul” or “The Apostle to the
Gentiles.”
At the end of his
life he could have said, "Look God, everything I've done, I'm a great
apostle. I've made these journeys in your name, I've evangelized the Gentiles,
I've been a prisoner and “I’m so good Christian." But no. He said but the Lord
stood by me and gave me strength, to him be the glory forever and ever!
Saint Paul has been so Busy, Productive, Efficient and ever better, he has been effective. He did the right things. Because he has run the right race.
Today’s gospel has
another 2 busy men. A Pharisee and a Tax collector went up to the temple to
pray.
In the time of Jesus, The Pharisees were hard workers, they were very busy, In fact they were dedicated to the law, they strove to keep all 613 commandments of the old covenant as the oral commandments. This pharisee here, even says what he does. He said: I fast twice a week (the law was just once a week), ”I give a tenth of all my income”. Looks like he was doing things right ( went to temple to pray) but didn't do the right thing. Because he didn't actually pray to God. He Prayed to himself about himself. Said God, I thank you that I am not like other people: God, I thank you that I am not like other people: in other words it is like: “I'm already a good person, God I thank you that I don't need you”. He's completely blind to his need and to what God has done for him. He was busy, but not productive. He didn't do the right thing.
What about the tax collector? The Tax collector knows he's not a good person, he knows he can't rely upon himself. That's why he shows up and declares the truth. He knew himself and his sin, but he didn't focus on himself or his sin. He prayed to God for mercy. He had nothing to boast about and avoided self-condemnation by relying on humility, relying on his need for God. He did the right thing.
What about us? We do things right but sometimes we are not doing the right things. We have the temptation to focus on ourselves, in our successes (like the Pharisee) or on our mistakes, failures, sins. Sometimes in our brokenness, we get so busy trying to fix ourselves on our own. Instead of saying: God, come into my brokenness, Jesus, I invite you in.
To conclude, I have some questions for you to think about. What kind of heart do you have? Do you have the heart of a Pharisee or the heart of a tax collector? How do I know if I'm not just busy and but productive? Not just efficient but effective and if I'm actually doing not just things right but the right thing.
I have left in your
seats, this prayer, this litany that we call the litany of humility. is so
powerful.
If you want to know if you have the heart of a Pharisee or the heart of a tax collector you need to pray this Litany. That will be your homework, pray at least once a day for a week.
The opening of the prayer is: O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me. And then: From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, Jesus . And also have some prayers related to fear, like From the fear of being humiliated, Lord deliver me. And then it goes on to these other prayers like: That others may be loved more than I , Jesus grant me the grace to desire it , That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it, That in the opinion of the world others may increase and I decrease, Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.
As you see, this prayer will reveal very quickly if we have the heart of a Pharisee or we have the heart of the tax collector. If you pay attention it will be difficult, if you mean it this will be tough. This will be a challenge, but I think it can be a good prayer that will help you not only do things right, but also do the right thing, not only be busy but productive, not only efficient but effective.
If we take this prayer to heart, there is no better guarantee than that every time you and I show up here to pray and say yes, no matter how familiar, no matter how common, no matter how like ordinary it is what we do here, we will be doing the right thing.
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