Homily for October 26, 2025

More than any other time, the world today is at disbelief and indifference towards God.   It’s not exactly something new—there is nothing new under the sun—but the increased distrust in religion has given rise to people’s bolder skepticism.    The phrase, “I am spiritual but not religious,” has become a tagline for those who don’t want others to challenge their way of living.   It’s much more convenient to have yourself tell you what you should do, than having to deal with sinful people all the time!   But Jesus never said to isolate ourselves to be holy. No, His commandment to us is to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself—not to flee from them.

And even science keeps pumping out research that links prayer with mental health—that’s before even touching spiritual health.   They conclude that prayer leads people to have a better “neurochemical balance by reducing stress and promoting feelings of inner peace.”[1]   This is just at the natural level b/c they see that “the experience of interacting with God is psychologically comparable to human attachment bonds that are strongly associated with mental health.”[2]    Well, you don’t say! That’s exactly what happens—God made us like Himself, so (interiorly) prayer is exactly the same as having an interaction with someone else.   “Lift up your hearts” is the priest’s exhortation that you pray interiorly along with the priest/that you may offer your gifts and needs to the Father in heaven!   That’s a human-&-divine attachment bond with another Person—the Father.    Such is prayer!   It is good for your soul, but we already knew that—that’s a given!   Prayer is even good for your mental health,   which only reinforces that God made us for Himself.

IOW, prayer is necessary for a person’s overall health!   And, just like there are many opinions on exercise, there are also many ways to talk about prayer.   What is not prayer?   I’ll give you an example:   Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, adulterous – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.'   The Pharisee ‘spoke to himself!’   The woke and new-age critics of Christianity criticize us;   they say that we are praying into “nothingness,” that we are “speaking to ourselves.”

Even those neurological studies scientifically distinguish b/w talking to oneself and addressing God, our Creator and Redeemer.   The Pharisee’s example helps us see what prayer is not:   To pray, it is not enough to be in a certain place—where did the Pharisee go? To the Temple! He was in the Temple and he did not pray.   You can be in the church building, in a shrine, in a chapel and fail to pray.   The Pharisee used words of prayer: St. Luke skillfully notes that the Pharisee… spoke this prayer, to tell us that the words he used were words that could be used in prayer (even if not good),   but he spoke them to himself. Ouch!    I can speak the words of an entire rosary/the Memorare/even the Lord’s prayer – but if I am not consciously addressing God,   how much am I really praying? Am I really meditating on the mysteries of our Lord’s life, death, and Resurrection?   One more thing that tells us what prayer is not: the Pharisee was self-righteous. Out of pride, the Pharisee made an idol of himself and he came to the Temple to pray to his new god (himself) and brag to his god how good he is.   A pride that gave birth to self-idolatry.   Not prayer.

Now that we know what prayer is not,   what is it?   Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector… the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.'   Just like the Pharisee, the tax collector also went to the Temple to pray—a place of encounter with God—but, unlike the Pharisee,   not only his body was in the Temple    but his heart was directed to God!   Now, the tax collector was standing at a distance (I guess the Catholic equivalent is sitting at the back pew).   His positioning becomes one of several hints at the tax collector’s intentions and disposition: that they arise from humility and awe of God.   We don’t see that awe in the Pharisee, who is self-righteous.   The tax collector prays to God in all humility, beating his breast,   i.e., blaming himself and nobody else,   ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’   He recognizes himself,   but then he speaks to Someone outside of himself—to God.

That’s all prayer is: an honest recognition of myself and speaking to God.   And, b/c the Pharisee did not pray, he was not only self-righteous, but he was unhappy, really. The Gospel doesn’t say it explicitly, but we know that only the tax collector went home justified.     The Book of Sirach says that the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal.   In that same spirit, the tax collector made himself low before God   so that he could be heard.   The Pharisee made himself big   so he could only hear himself.   For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.   We can exalt ourselves even in the privacy of our own interior life! And the one who exalts himself cannot pray.    Without prayer   our life suffers (mentally and spiritually),   and to actually pray   we have to make ourselves small and humble.


[1] https://ijsra.net/sites/default/files/IJSRA-2024-2136.pdf 
[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12213507/