Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee

The Church brings us today into the period of preparation for the Great Lent. The Gospel passage she reads to us (Luke 18:9-14) confers its name on this Sunday. The story of the parable is simple. A Pharisee and a tax collector enter the temple to pray. The former praises himself and looks down on the latter, while the latter seeks mercy for his sins. Justification was the lot of the tax collector. The parable is straightforward. Today, the Church is saying that the upcoming fast is for the reform of us all. Each one of us is, to some extent, like this Pharisee. How do we rise to love people, regardless of who they are or what we think of them? The Church does not want us merely to adhere to the form of the fast, but also for its form to lead us to experience that this world is passing away. This fast is meant to tell you and me that despising people is a deluded power that conceals the fact that we are going, today or tomorrow, to our Greatest Companion. During Lent, the Church wants to inscribe on the flesh of each of us the word of God that says: "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Corinthians 12:9).