March 29, 2025

Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

Lectionary 242

Luke 18:9-14:

Meditation

We learn from the tax collector what it means to love. Most tax collectors in his day were accused of being unfair in their dealings with their people. This tax collector, however, wished to be right with God. His sacrifice was acknowledging that he was a sinner and in need of God's help. He did not raise his eyes nor lift his hands towards heaven. Instead, he struck his breast and, confessing the sins in his heart, implored God's mercy. Realizing that he couldn't pick himself up, pull himself together, and set things right, he appealed to God for mercy.

Though he tried to live according to God's law, the Pharisee boasted of his virtue and looked down on everyone else. It is never tolerable, however, to knock someone else down to build oneself up. That is where the Pharisee made his mistake. If we are self-centered and self-seeking, we become too proud and self-righteous. God asks that we be humble enough to admit our sinfulness and dependence upon him alone. Facing the truth about oneself is not a pleasant enterprise, but we must face that reality!

The appearance of Mary at La Salette on September 19, 1846, was a central Marian apparition, an exciting intervention by God in Christian history. Saints, pastors and writers – St. John Bosco, the holy Curé of Ars, St. Peter Julian Eymard, Leon Bloy, Paul Claudel, Raïssa and Jacques Maritain, to name but a few – have been profoundly influenced and marked by the gift of La Salette. What influence can it have as we all take up the challenges of our third Christian millennium?