Redeeming The Time

The Parable of the Publican and Pharisee has an obvious and important teaching, and a less obvious, more important one. The external meaning is, of course, that we are to be humble and not judge others. Pride and judgment clearly kills the soul. The deep ,mystical teaching is how we are to approach God in prayer and how to learn to be humble. This is prayer for the man with the "deep heart." We learn about what we should think of ourselves and expect in prayer. To the uninitiated (those without frequent experience), these things seem to be impossible to coexist together. Our church blesses us with the way to pray deeply, honestly and with expectation and confidence. We discuss the Jesus prayer, and numerous citations from the Canon for this day, which teaches this mystical teaching. This is truly the Gospel—the "Good News!"