God loves you and wants to meet with you in prayer. This and many other spiritual lessons can be found in the Gospel (Luke 18:10-14) from the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee (9 February). In his homily, Fr. Thomas explains that the Pharisee reminds all of us (especially clergy) to be humble while the Publican (a tax collector) reminds all of us to be honest about our sinfulness. That means we must acknowledge our brokenness before God and ask for His mercy ... not as some sort of escape from punishments ... but as a desire for wholeness through, with, and in God. As such, we are also reminded to listen for the will of God and live it willingly and lovingly.
This Gospel is also the root of the Jesus Prayer: "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." When we stand before God and pray this with openness and freedom, we acknowledge our desire to be closer to God in love, in willingness, and in service. But this also means we must find time for silence because that is where we learn stillness and hear the Holy Spirit ... the fruit of which is the kind of peace and love experienced at Pentecost.
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