Weekly HOMILY for October 24, 2010: A Matter of Perspective

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
St. Margaret Church, Bel Air
October 24, 2010

A Matter of Perspective
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


CARL JUNG

The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, who died almost 50 years ago, is considered the first psychiatrist to state that the human psyche is “by nature religious.”

That’s to say, to be born a human being is to be born with a religious self or psyche.

Jung wrote that, “Christians often ask why God does not speak to them, as he is believed to have done in former days.

“When I hear such questions,” Jung continues, “it always makes me think of the rabbi who asked how it could be that God often showed himself to people in the olden days while nowadays nobody ever sees him.

The rabbi thought for a moment and then replied, ‘Nowadays there is no longer anyone who can bow low enough to see or hear God.”

“No longer anyone who can bow low enough to see or hear God” Jung has put his finger on the prayer-pulse of human beings in much the same way that Jesus does today in Luke’s gospel.


THE PUBLICAN

Notice in Jesus’ parable of the two men at prayer, one man approaches God humbly. Aware of no one else except God, the individual prays simply and quietly.

So clear is his perception of the all-holy and wholly other God that his own sinfulness is revealed, and in the clarity of that moment he prays for mercy.

I just said a mouthful that needs to be understood clearly. The individual takes time (1) To be still, (2) To be aware of God’s presence in his life and perhaps most importantly (3) To be open to what God might have to reveal to him.

And what happens in that quiet, prayerful, open space? He receives a perception of his own sinfulness before this God who is lovingly communing with him.

It is no wonder, then, that out of that communion, that delight, that presence, comes the only appropriate response: (a gesture of bowing low) “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.”


THE PHARISEE

As for the other fellow in the gospel – the Pharisee, sort of the “monsignor” of his day – for him the only revelation he experiences is a revelation of himself.

Notice he speaks his litany in his own honor from a skewed perspective of undue self-importance and inordinate pride.

To add to the odiousness of his so-called prayer, he compares himself to others, and in particular to the tax collector standing behind him.

In the rarified atmosphere of his own conceit, there is no room for anyone else much less for the spaciousness of God’s presence.

That perspective and not (1) Taking the time, (2) Having the awareness, (3) Or willing to be open keeps him in this state of bravado: (left hand on hip; right hand on chest.)

Is it any wonder there is no contact with the divine, no being made right with God?


REAL PRAYER

When I use the term “real prayer” I refer to a heart-to-heart encounter of myself with God, not a mindless repetition of the psalms or memorized prayers.

Real prayer is an honest to goodness encounter, as any significant encounter is with someone who is dearly loved. There is no need for lots of words or thoughts. There is simply a resting in and relishing that person’s presence.

Just look into the eyes of someone you love and say nothing for several minutes and you’ll see simple prayerful presence.

It is that sort of a presence, that kind of a prayerful being with God that is expansive and spacious, a presence where I can be who I am without protecting, comparing, or excusing.

What will come up for me in that kind of a gazing at God will be a feeling of humility about even being there with God or deserving such intimacy. I come up with a sense of gratitude that leaves me without adequate words.


CONCLUSION

Whenever the sacred texts are read and proclaimed, as they have been this morning, we have a choice to make.

Will I pray in truth before God like the tax collector – summed up in this gesture (bowing) – or will I preen before God and others – summed up in this one (left hand on hip; right hand on chest)

The first will leave me justified, made right with God, from the encounter; the second I will come away empty.