Ordinary Time 
Pause
What does it take to tell the truth about ourselves? To admit we don’t know everything. To let go of distorted images. To refuse to pretend to feel things we don’t.
What does it take to tell the truth about God? To admit we don’t know everything. To let go of distorted images. To refuse to pretend to feel things we don’t.
Humble and honest prayers begin with telling the truth to ourselves and to God — about ourselves and about God.
Let us pray.
Listen
“I tell you, this person went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up.”
Luke 18:14
Think
The Pharisee was so proud of his own goodness that he was disgusted by everyone he thought wasn’t as good as he was. He stood front-and-center, confidently comparing himself to others, and found that he could uplift himself easily over all of them. Why would he need God to lift him up?
The tax collector stood apart, averting his eyes, knowing everyone around was disgusted by him. He knew that no one in his community would lift him up. All he could do was turn to God for mercy. Jesus promises his prayer will be answered: those who are laid low will be uplifted.
Honest humility before God recognizes that we are no better and no worse than anyone else. We don’t need to compare ourselves to others to make ourselves feel better or to look for ways we could be better. We need only to look inside, so we can offer God what we are and seek mercy. Then we can be lifted, and we can reach out to lift others who are low.
Nikki Finkelstein-Blair
Pray
God, lift me up when I feel low inside myself. When I am standing alone; when I am ashamed of what I have done or afraid of what I am becoming — I seek your mercy.
God, bring me down when I feel too high about myself. When I think my goodness is the most important thing about me; when all I see in others is failure — I seek your mercy.
Teach me humility. Guide me to honesty. Show me your mercy so I can uplift others.
Amen.
Go
When we say “Amen,” we are saying, “Yes, truly.” We are saying, “Let it be so.”
In our silences — in our unspoken requests and questions — we hold the “Amen.”
In our stops and starts — in all the ways we move through life — we act out the “Amen.”
In our hesitations — in our uncertain ideas about ourselves and God — we remember the “Amen.”
In every silence, in every stop and every start, in every hesitant thought, God goes with you.
Yes, truly. Let it be so.
Amen.
