Kaukauna Catholic Parishes

In today’s Gospel reading, a Pharisee and a tax collector go into the temple to pray. For some of us, it may be difficult to walk into a church, even our own parish church. We enter, and we look at the tabernacle. Perhaps the thought comes into our minds: “God is looking at me. How does He see me this week? Was I better or was I worse?” Some of us may have been away from church for a few weeks or months. Some of us may have been absent from practicing our faith on Sundays and receiving communion. For others of us, that might mean our absence from practicing the faith in our daily lives. We may want to join the tax collector and sit in the back of church and say, “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.”

We need our relationship with our church. Our relationship with God that each of us has been gifted with flows from our involvement in church. Through the Kaukauna Catholic Parishes, we receive Jesus’ body and blood and nurture our role in this faith community.

Today the Parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee leads us to the Pilgrim’s Prayer. This prayer is both simple and profound and could be said throughout the day. It is the expression of the man in the back of the temple who realized he was totally dependent on God’s love, a love he had often rejected. The Pilgrim’s Prayer is this: “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

The Pharisee and the tax collector go into the temple but only one prays. Only one is humble enough to recognize his need for the healing hand of God. That one leaves in the embrace of the Lord’s love. For some of us, it is difficult to walk into a church, but God is here. We need God and His mercy. We need the strength of the    Sacraments. We need to walk into the church because we need the strength and the courage He provides. We need His grace so we can walk out of church and continue our lives with Him.

Deacon Mark