“Confession heals, confession justifies, confession grants pardon of sin. All hope consists in confession.”
READ: LUKE 18:9–17
He spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else, “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, ‘I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.’ The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.” People even brought little children to him, for him to touch them; but when the disciples saw this they turned them away. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. I tell you solemnly, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
YOUR THREE-STEP GUIDE TO DAILY MENTAL PRAYER
REFLECT
Jesus went after the big sinners — you don’t get much bigger than “people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else.” He didn’t just preach to the choir (which, in fact, is why His enemies had to have Him killed; His influence was simply becoming too widespread). This shows how much He cared about others and how little He worried about Himself. If He had been after comfortable self-satisfaction, He would never have gone after big sinners. This is confirmed by our own experience: When we don’t go after those who need Christ most, isn’t it because we care more about our own comfortable self-satisfaction than about expanding Christ’s Kingdom? Christ’s concern for big sinners also gives us another reason to trust Him without limits. No sinner is too big for Christ’s mercy. His mercy is infinite, vast like an ocean; even the greatest sins are finite, like a thimble. How foolish we would be to think our thimble was too deep for His ocean!
RESPOND
You are my Lord. I understand what that means: I owe everything to You. You hold my entire existence in the palm of Your hand. You never cease thinking of me and drawing me closer to You. You are my Lord, but You are also my Father, my Brother, and my Friend. Jesus, I trust in You.
I ask You to have mercy on me, for all my selfishness I know about and for all my selfishness I’m unaware of. And I ask You to have mercy on all sinners. It is Your mercy that makes Your glory shine! Teach me to confide in Your mercy no matter what, and to be merciful, forgiving, gentle, and meek — especially with those who don’t deserve it.
REST
Pour Your courage into my heart, Lord. I am hampered in my apostolate and my testimony because I still care too much about what other people will think. I’m glad you didn’t give in to those temptations. Teach me to be adventurous in building Your Kingdom and spreading it, even to the “big sinners” who seem so hopeless.
RESOLVE
How can I carry this encounter with me into the day? (Write / Journal)
CLOSING PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Most Blessed and Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thank You for Your love and Your grace in allowing me this time of prayer with You.
The world, the flesh, and the devil will all propose things I should focus on and run after today. I beg You to fill me with Your Holy Spirit and help me instead to know and embrace Your will. Help me to see what You desire of me each moment of this day. Give me the wisdom, strength, and fortitude I need to avoid distractions, discern Your will, and focus on and carry out that which Wisdom reveals. Help me to work and live at a pace of peace and prayerfulness, always attentive to You, able to hear Your voice and to say no to anything that hinders my journey to You and a complete yes to every Holy prompting from You.
Help me to humbly and purposefully live, light, and lead others to the path of union with You and to tell everyone about this way of life. Amen.
About the Author
Fr. John Bartunek was ordained in 2003. He has taught moral theology at various ecclesiastical institutions at the graduate and undergraduate levels, and has authored many books, including the Gospel companion, The Better Part, and Inside the Passion, the only authorized behind-the-scenes look at the film, for which he provided on-set spiritual support. His online retreat guides are available in multiple formats at RCSpirituality.org. Fr. John currently resides in Atlanta, where he is serving as territorial vicar for the Legionaries of Christ.
