The month of October can be said to be a prayerful month.
And when we think about it, we can see that the month of October is indeed dotted with prayerful moments.
Well, the month of October began with the feast of our patron saint, St. Therese.
And then there was the feast of the Holy Rosary, and the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.
Tomorrow is also the feast of a saint that all of us have prayed to before - St Jude, patron saint of desperate cases.
And talking about desperate cases, as much as October is a prayerful month, it is also a stressful month, especially for students and also for the teachers, and also for the parents.
Yes, October is exam month and so it is a stressful month, but also a prayerful month, especially for the students.
It is said that last minute preparations for exams also produces the greatest motivation to pray.
And what do most students pray for? Certainly for good results.
And good results does not mean to just pass the exams.
(For some students and some parents) Good results does not mean just a D, or a C, or even a B.
Good results means scoring an A, and nothing less.
When asked why scoring A is so important for exams, one student candidly replied: Oh, because we are A-sians! :P
In the gospel, Jesus told a parable about two persons: a Pharisee and a tax-collector.
The Pharisee was like an “A” student: he is not grasping, not unjust, not adulterous.
He fast twice a week, he pays tithes, and of course, he prays.
The tax-collector was like an “F” student: he had got nothing to say but only this: God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
He was like a student with a report card full of red marks and with the head hanging down could only shamefully say: I am sorry that I failed.
As the saying goes, we reap what we sow. So if we study hard, we will get good grades, maybe even a string of As.
If we are lazy and don’t study hard, and play play play, and then, at the last minute, we pray pray pray very hard, even St. Jude may find it difficult to help a desperate case. It is more like a hopeless case.
The Pharisee was certainly impressive with what he did, and it is understandable if he bragged about what he did, just like the students who would say how they toiled and sweat with their studies in order to get good grades.
His only problem, and which was his biggest problem was that he started to compare himself with the tax-collector and subsequently he put down the tax-collector.
The Pharisee had already exalted himself but to exalt himself further, he went on to ridicule the tax-collector by saying: and particularly, I am not like this tax-collector here.
And Jesus said it plainly, God will not accept that.
How can one be called religious when one starts to compare himself with another and subsequently condemns the other?
As the 1st reading puts it: The Lord shows no respect of personages to the detriment of a poor man, and He listens to the plea of the injured party.
Moreover, the 1st reading states that the humble man’s prayer pierces the clouds, and the Lord will not be slow to answer him.
Yes, the Lord will hear and answer the prayers of the humble and lowly who only have Him for their help.
I came across a story taken from a magazine called Guideposts.
There was a young school teacher who really wanted to be a good teacher to her students. But a student named Billy, who was like an “A” student and a smart alec, was causing havoc in her class so much so that she was becoming a nervous wreck.
One morning before class began, the schoolteacher was at her desk writing something in shorthand. Suddenly, Billy appeared and he asked her: What are you writing?
She said: I am writing a prayer to God in shorthand. Billy laughed and said: Can God read shorthand? The teacher said: He can do anything, even answer this prayer.
Then she tucked that slip of paper into her prayer book and turned to write something on the board. As she did so, Billy, being Billy, took the prayer slip from her prayer book and slipped it into his text book.
Twenty years later, Billy was going through a box of his belongings.
He came across his old text book. As he began to thumb through it, that prayer slip fell out. Billy stared at the writing on that faded piece of paper.
He came across his old text book. As he began to thumb through it, that prayer slip fell out. Billy stared at the writing on that faded piece of paper.
When he got to his office, he gave that piece of paper to his secretary to decipher.
As she looked at it, she blushed and told Billy that she would type it out and leave it on his desk before she left.
That night Billy read the prayer. It said: Dear God, don't let me fail as a teacher. I can't handle this class with Billy in it. Touch his heart. He is someone who can become either very good or very evil.
That final sentence hit Billy like a hammer. Because just hours before he was contemplating on some illegal business that would make him very rich, but very evil.
Billy read that prayer a few times, and finally he changed his mind about what he was contemplating on. Eventually he located his old schoolteacher and told her how her prayer changed his life.
The old school teacher smiled and said: And I thought that God took that prayer and forgot to answer it.
Amazing story, isn't it? Really amazing. Yes, let us remember that every prayer uttered is also every prayer answered.
And it will be answered powerfully, when it is uttered from humble lips that are surrendered to the merciful and loving God.
So may we begin and end our every prayer with that prayer of the tax collector: O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.