Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 26, 2022
Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
“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.’
But 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.’
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The evil occurring in Ukraine is painful to follow. For example, it is devastating to hear
about families huddling in bunkers and subway stations as Russian forces indiscriminately
attack civilian areas.
We know we should pray for a swift end to this injustice, but sustaining this kind of prayerful attention for extended periods is a challenge. At first, we may confront the tragic consequences of evil and allow our hearts to break at the sight of it. This is not enough. We must also be willing to carry a burden that is all too easy—certainly, if we live far away from the conflict—to let slip into the background and become just another terrible headline that we ignore.
It is not only the external injustice that we allow ourselves to ignore eventually. We also disregard it in our hearts. We mess up—we sin—and while we might get little pangs of guilt from our conscience, we can be experts at long-term evasion.
Like the Pharisee in today’s reading, we might distract ourselves by judgmentally relishing the apparent vice of other people. But those little pangs of guilt, as Soren Kierkegaard writes in his Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions, can serve as a “rescuing attendant through life.”
This praise for guilt might seem odd to 21st century Westerners, but Kierkegaard’s point is the
same as the Lentin emphasis on unceasing conversion—to continuously turn away from our
sin and back to God. As Pope Francis reminds us, “God never tires of forgiving us, even if
we tire in asking for it.”
So let us follow the example of the honest, contrite tax collector and never tire in allowing God to mend our broken hearts, and may we also never tire in praying for God to heal our broken world.
Prayer
Thank you for your gift of this season of Lent, Lord, and for the gentle challenges to personal growth that come through your Son’s word. Grant us the grace to continue loving you and our neighbors so that we may experience the fullness of Easter joy. Amen.
Saint of the Day
On March 25, the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Annunciation. March 25, however, is also listed as the feast day of St. Dismas, who was the good thief crucified with Jesus. Today we offer a small biography of St. Dismas as we meditate upon and ask for God's mercy.
The only substantial record we have of this man comes from the Gospel of Luke (other Gospels note that Jesus was crucified between two revolutionaries, but do not elaborate). As Luke tells us, Jesus was crucified with two thieves. As they hung on the cross, one taunted Jesus along with the crowd, telling him, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.”
The other thief rebuked him, saying, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”Jesus told him, “This day you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).
The Christian community took seriously Jesus’ words here that this good thief was saved, and honors him as a saint. Dismas’ response to Jesus is a good articulation of steps in conversion away from sin: he came to an honest awareness of his sin and turned away from it, seeking Jesus as the source of eternal life.
Like other personalities close to the story of Jesus, we know little about Dismas. The Christian community constructed a story to fill in this gap, including his name—in some traditions, he is known as Titus or Zoathan. The most popular name, Dismas, was adopted from the Greek word for “sunset” or “death,” and began to be used in stories dating from the fourth century. One legend says that Dismas and his fellow thief held up Joseph and Mary when they were fleeing to Egypt with the child Jesus. Dismas is said to have been moved to compassion and bribed his companion to let the Holy Family pass safely.
The relics of St. Dismas rest in the reliquary chapel, including a piece of Dismas’ cross. His image is used here with permission from Catholic.org.
The Dismas House in South Bend is named after this good thief, and is a halfway house for men recently released from jail. The house is a community partner with the Institute for Social Concerns, and Notre Dame students volunteer there to support former prisoners who are adjusting to life after incarceration. Residents of Keenan Hall have cooked dinner at Dismas House one night a week during the academic year since it opened in 1986.
St. Dismas, the good thief who received Christ's mercy at the hour of death—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Dismas is in the public domain. Last accessed February 13, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
