Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

"Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner." When we let the Lord in, when we admit who we are in light of His Holiness, we also begin to let Him work in our lives, justifying (making us right with God) us. He forgive our sins and makes us holy. When we are filled with pride, or when we act like salvation is a mere matter of being better than the other person, we fail to let God help us. This parable of the Pharisee and the Publican draws this out. Interestingly enough, consider the 'prayer' of the Pharisee - he spoke the prayer to himself. Certainly, he had a high opinion of himself! We do not need to be better than the other person, just better than we are!