"... whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted." -Matthew 23:12
"In his parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple, Jesus is stressing the importance of a humble heart when it comes to prayer. At the same time, Jesus is issuing a severe warning about the dangers of having an attitude like that of the Pharisee. While most of us may deny it, we can probably assume that all of us have something of the Pharisee's attitude in us. This will be especially true if we are morally upright people and are very faithful to prayer and church. Speaking for myself, I would say that it is rather easy to find in myself something of the Pharisee's attitude. It is easy enough to find myself thinking, if not saying that I am more dedicated to my priestly duties than some other priests I know. This in fact may well be true, but it is not for me to compare myself to others. It is never right for us to make ourselves look good by putting others down. Such behavior is always sinful and hateful to God.
A man came to Buddha with an offering of flowers in his hands. Buddha looked at him and said, "Drop it!" he could not believe he was being asked to drop the flowers. But then it occurred to him that he was probably being invited to drop the flowers he had in his left hand, since to offer something with one's left hand was considered impolite. So he dropped the flowers that his left hand held. Still Buddha said, "Drop it!" This time he dropped all the flowers and stood empty handed before Buddha, who once again said with a smile, "Drop it!" Perplexed, the man asked, "What is it I am supposed to drop?" "Not the flowers, son, but the one who brought them," was Buddha's reply. Thus, Buddha was calling all devotees to come before God poor in spirit, divorced from oneself, and not to come like the proud Pharisee of the Gospel, who stood before God as an "I" specialist, singing his own praises, off key, of course." -Father Dansan S.J.
