9 March 1991
Barquisimeto, Venezuela

My dear Confreres,

Some years ago I knew a priest who liked to put this question to people when he was talking to them about the parable to which we have just listened in the Gospel. "If you were to enter the Temple and found the pharisee and the publican kneeling there, which of the two would you kneel beside?" All of us would probably reply, "The publican, of course." We prefer the publican because he is a humble man and all the world feels at ease with humble people. We do not feel at ease with people who boast about themselves and make us feel inferior. The pharisee is boastful in his prayer and we would not feel too comfortable in his presence. We would draw close to the publican and pray with him: "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner." Besides, we know from the story that Jesus Christ approved the publican, and we are always on the side of the good.

In saying that we are always on the side of the good, I am dangerously near to praying the prayer of the pharisee. For that reason, it might be good if we did not answer the question: "Which of the two would you kneel beside?" quite so quickly. If we like to think of ourselves as always on the side of the good people, and if we too quickly join the publican, there is a possibility that we could be despising the pharisee. It was precisely because the pharisee despised others that he was not accepted by God, nor his prayer either. "Believe me, this man went home from the temple justified, but the other did not." (Lk 18:13). It is very easy to despise others almost without knowing it. The next time we read this parable, we would do well at the end of it to stand for a moment at the door of the Temple and ask if we despise anybody. It is only when we have answered that question with a no that we can enter the temple and begin the prayer of the publican: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner."

The Church has learned the parable of today's Gospel very well, for whenever she prays her greatest prayer, the Mass, she always begins by making her own the prayer of the publican: "Be merciful to me, a sinner.... Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy." Not only at the beginning but throughout the Mass, the Church makes us repeat the prayer of the publican in one form or another. "Look not on our sins but on the faith of your Church.... Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof, but only say the word and I shall be healed."

Not only has the Church learned this parable well, but so did St. Vincent de Paul. We could say that St. Vincent made two great spiritual discoveries in his lifetime. The first one was the presence of Jesus Christ in the person of the poor. The second one was that, if you wish to do something for Jesus Christ, you need His grace, and His grace is given only to the humble, only to those who can pray from the depths of their hearts, "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner."

During his lifetime St. Vincent could be said to have built a great building to shelter the poor and suffering of this world. Like the good Samaritan, he spent a great part of his life lifting people off the roads and the streets and bringing them to a great inn where they could be healed and cared for. We have inherited that great inn, and its management is now in our hands. I think, however, that St. Vincent would remind us often, were he with us today, that the great building stands only because it has a good foundation, and that foundation is humility. In his writings and talks he comes back again and again to the importance of being humble. Humility is a grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps we do not boast like the pharisee in today's Gospel, but that does not mean that we are humble people. Humility only comes when the light of Jesus Christ, Who Himself is humble of heart, penetrates deeply into our being and into all our thinking and reflection. When that light does penetrate into us, it transfigures everything, not only our opinion about ourselves but our attitude towards others. It is the light of humility that enables us to see the color and the variety of gifts that God has given to others and to praise Him for them in the way that we can praise Him for the variety of colors that we see in the flowers of the fields.

Let us listen to this appeal of St. Vincent: "Let us give ourselves fully and wholeheartedly to God. Let us work solidly at virtue and principally at humility. Yes, humility. Let us ask God earnestly that He would kindly give us this virtue... humility, yes humility. I repeat it. Humility." (Coste XI, Fr. ed., p. 389).