Bargaining

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 everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)

Of what are we convinced?  All of us should plead like the tax collector: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”  Unfortunately, most of us don’t, and many of us Catholics are in league with sinners – the greedy, the deceptive, the profane, the dishonest, the adulterous, and corrupt.

This comic should be a reminder for us to follow our conscience and Jesus, our Christ.  Otherwise, pleading with Saint Peter at the gates of heaven will be a fool's errand.  Making a bargain with some devil while we are alive will be remembered when we arrive at those gates.  

Deacon David Pierce