posted on June 13, 2010 15:22
“ O the foolishness, the sinful foolishness …” as St. Augustine put it in his treatise on the Pharisee in today’s Gospel account, lay in his refusal to admit that he was even more in God’s debt than was the sinful woman we encounter in today’s Gospel account! Yes, the woman had her many sins, forgiven by the mouth of Jesus Himself, and for this she was exceedingly and humbly grateful. But how much more grateful should Simon the Pharisee have been, this Simon who had by God’s grace been preserved from having sinned in the first place? Rather than scorning the woman, he should have been on his knees, thanking God for the grace and mercy shown him. As we should thank God each and every day not only for the sins we have been forgiven, but for those sins also that, through God’s grace and only through His grace, we have not committed … those sins into which we might, in some weak moment or decade, but from which, by God’s Providence we were sparred? Today’s Gospel, if taken seriously, is the cure for any temptation toward self-righteousness or those better-than-thou moments we might entertain, as well as those times when a judgmental attitude get’s hold of us. What are the sins that, but for the grace of God, would more than likely be on my conscience right now? Which road do I find myself on today… Pride Street, or Humility Avenue? “Your faith has indeed saved you; go in peace.”
Fr. David C. Downey