The tax collector prayed the prayer that should be on the lips of every one of us every time we pray. The mercy for which he cried is the mercy that each of us constantly needs. To reduce prayer to a grocery list of things that you want and think you need not only demeans prayer, but it also demeans the sacrifice of love that the One to whom you are praying made so that you and your prayers would be received. The heart of true prayer is vertical confession, not horizontal desire. The Pharisee’s prayer was not a prayer at all. He basically raised his head to heaven and said: “Here I am, God.
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