The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-08-08
THE PHARISEE AND THE
PUBLICAN.


Newman, set before US what may be
called the characteristic mark of the
Christian religion They are a con-
fession of sin and a prayer for mercy.
Confession of sin enters into the idea
of highest saintliness. Redeemed,
restored sinners the Saints confess
themselves to be, and while they live
on earth, it is the matter of their per-
petual humiliation. The most favored
of the glorious company washed clean
in the Blood of the Lamb, never for
get what they are by birth, they con-
fess, one and all, that they are chill
dren of Adam, and of the same nature
as their brethren, and compassed with
infirmities while in the flesh, whatever
may be the grace given them and
their own improvement Of it. Others
may look up to them, but they look
up to God; others may speak of their
merit, but they only speak of their
defects. Such utter self-prostration is
! the very badge and token of the
servant of Christ ;-and this indeed
is conveyed in His own words: II am
not come to call the just but sinners"
and it is solemnly recognized and in
culcated by him in the words: Every
one that exalteth himself, shall be
humbled, and he that humbleth him
self shall be exalted"
But men of the world are as rule
both self-satisfed and self-suf1icient;
they think they know just what to do
and that they do it all; and in con-
sequence, they are well content with
! themselves, and rate their merit very
high, and have no fear at all of any
scrutiny into their conduct, which
may befall them, though their religion
mainly lies in certain outward OBJ
servances, and not great number
even of them.
So it was with the Pharisee in the
! Gospel. He looked upon himself with
great complacency, for the very rea-
son that the standard was so low,
and the range so narrow, which he
assigned to his duties towards God
and man. He used or misused the
traditions in which he had been
brought up, to the purpose of per-
suading himself that perfection lay
in merely answering the demands
of society. He professed, indeed, to
pay thanks to God, but he hardly
apprehended the existence of any
direct duties on his part towards his
Maker He thought he did all that
God required if he satisfied public
opinion. His aims and HASTINGS were
not done in penance, but because the
world asked for them; penance would
| have implied the consciousness of sin;
whereas it was only Publicans and
such as they had any sins to be for
given. And these indeed were the
outcasts Of society, and despicable;
but no account lay against men of
well-regulated minds such as his, men
who were well7behaved, decorous,
consistent and respectable. He
thanked God he was Pharisee, and
not penitent
And this religion of the Pharisee is
the religion of the worldly man at all
times. The Pharisees persisted in
their self-glorifcation even though
Christ pointed out the corruption that
was eating away the life of their
souls, the foul crimes, the wrongs,
the blindness and hardness of heart
So it is today. And the reason is, be-
cause there is no apprehension of AL
mighty God, no insight into his claims
on us, no sense of the creatures
shortcomings, no self-condemnation
confession and depreciation, none of
those deep and sacred feelings, which
/ ever characterize the religion of a
Christian, and more and more, and
not less and less, as he mounts up
from mere ordinary obedience to the
perfection of saint.
The Christian has a revelation of
God; he has upon his mind, in his
heart, in his conscience, the idea of
One Who is se1f-dependent, Who is
from everlasting, Who is incom-
municable. He knows that One alone
is holy, and that His own creatures
are so frail in comparison of Him,
that they would dwindle and melt
away in His presence did He not up
hold them by His power. He knows
that there is just One Being in Whose
hand lies his own happiness, his own
sanctity, his own life and hope and
/ salvation. He knows that there is
One to Whom he owes everything,
and against Whom he can have no
plea or remedy. All things are moth
ing before Him; the highest things
do but worship Him the more; the
hottest things are such only because
they are most deeply indebted to Him.
What are we when we look back
upon ourselves? There is one thing
only that we can call our own and
that is sin. The vilest, worst thing
in all Gods world, the only thing that
is at bottom and in the very heart of
it evil, the bad sinister thing that is
at the bottom of all human woe, that
caused the death of the Son of God,
and that kindled hell and keeps it
afiame; that is ours, that alone And
he who must call that his own, what
is he but a vile reptile, which ought to
shrink aside out of the light of day ?
| Yet always we sinners are under the
Eye that sees what sin is, and what it
makes of US. Why then are we
proud? In Gods sight, conscious Of
His gaze, we should have always in
i Our heart tho nrayer of the Puhlican