On Arrogance

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
"Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The 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.
I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.'
But 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.'
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
                                   The Gospel according to Luke 18: 9-14

Happy 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time!

St. Paul said that the root of all evil is the love of money. But I wonder if arrogance isn’t at the root of all evil.

Being convinced of your own righteousness is what arrogance is all about. It leads one to do terrible things: enslave, corrupt, abuse, lie, steal, and most any other evil behavior you can list. It leads one to do terrible things to people in the belief that you are doing them good. Indian boarding schools and assimilation policies come to mind. Paternalistic racism, too. The extremes of our political spectrum are full of the arrogant seeking to do good out of their self-righteousness.

The recent National Synodal Synthesis noted divisions in the Church around the Pre-conciliar (Vatican II) mass. It could have added the ordination of women and the flap about who deserves Eucharist. It listed festering wounds from those who shun the divorced and from those who committed and hid the sex abuse scandals. All these attitudes are anchored in self-righteousness.

Jesus is also talking about a cure for self-righteousness: inspect your life, accept your imperfections and present your self to God with all those imperfections laid bare.

Advent is coming, and with Advent comes a reconciliation service. Reconciliation services at St. T tend to be poorly attended. That’s a sure sign that we are poorly attuned to our imperfections. Let us give that some prayerful consideration in the coming weeks, attend a reconciliation service, and join the tax collector on our knees before God.