When I arrived in Rome for further studies in September 1960 I heard the story several times from fellow Americans how one of their number asked an Italian if he was a Catholic and the man said “yes”.  So he followed it up with the question: “Does that mean you go to Mass every Sunday?”  His reply was: “Sono cattolico, ma non sono fanatico – I am a Catholic but I am not a fanatic!”  I think my friends were trying to prepare me for the fact that the Italians had a different concept of what it meant to be a “good Catholic”.

I came from Chicago and at that time we all knew what it meant to be a “good Catholic” – go to Mass each Sunday, fulfil your “Easter duty” of going to Communion at least once a year, support your local parish financially, if married not to practice any form of birth control (a “good Catholic family” was a “large Catholic family”), and if you had children, to send them to a Catholic School.  At that time there was no strong concern about the sin of racism, the sins against social justice, the need to welcome the stranger (immigrant), or the sins against the environment.  Just as in today’s gospel one could feel that he or she was a “good Catholic” because he or she followed all the rules and therefore was pleasing to God.

I think that perhaps Jesus was warning us in this parable about being too self-satisfied with our own goodness.  Such an attitude can easily lead us to look down on someone who doesn’t quite measure up to our standards.  But more importantly it can make us forget our own sinfulness as well and of our need for God’s love and forgiveness.

Today’s Gospel reminds us that there is more to being a follower of Christ than just keeping all the rules.  It talks about the sin of pride and the need for humility.  It means standing before God and admitting to God, ourselves and others that we are also a sinful people – that sometimes we do some very un-Christ-like things – that sometimes there is so much more to learn about what it means to follow Christ and to love others as Christ loves us.

When I was in charge of our seminary, twice I had to delay the ordination of a candidate for ordination for six months and ask him to return to the Novitiate because I thought he had missed something very important in his formation – something that was needed for him to live a fruitful religious life and serve as a minister in the Church.  A friend of mine at that time on hearing me talk about this asked me: “Larry, what is the bottom line for you?” 

I told him that while I thought it was important for the candidate to know what his strengths were it was also important for him to know and acknowledge what his limitations were.  As long as he could not face them or as long as he continued blaming others for his faults and limitations he was not ready to be an ordained minister.  He would be too busy protecting his own inflated ego to even hear what the person might be saying to him or asking of him.  He had to be able to stand before God and sincerely pray: “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.”  It would be his own acceptance of his limitations and “sinfulness” that would then enable him to accept the limitations and “sinfulness” of others so that they too could return home justified.

The parable makes it clear that God is pleased when we can acknowledge our sinfulness and not try to justify ourselves by our own good works.  And amazingly enough, by accepting our own sinfulness we become free to accept and love others as they are and no longer feel the need to judge them.