Lk 18:9-14
9[Jesus] addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. 10“Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. 11The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ 13But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ 14I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Be merciful to me a sinner. Jesus addresses the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector to people who are convinced of their own righteousness and despise everyone else. The reason for the parable is reflection enough for us.
When I was young, I wanted to change the world, and so I entered the seminary. While inside the high school seminary, I enjoyed myself and forgot about changing the world. When I entered college, I felt I needed to help change my country. But that I failed to do, too. I grew quietly under the martial law years. When I entered theology, I felt maybe I needed to change only my family. I soon found out that this was just as difficult. When I got ordained, I tried to change the Church. But the Church has been there and will go on without me. Now it shames me to think that I should have just started by changing myself. I would have gone far by now!
Let me start today, O Lord, the change I want to see. Let me be the change I want to see. Amen.