Last Sunday and this Sunday Jesus tells us about praying. Last week was about the quantity of prayer, as you may remember from the parable about the woman, who nagged a judge so much that he gave her what she wanted.

Todayís gospel reading is about the quality of prayer. To me, my quality of prayer is lacking. Last week I was praying the Liturgy of the Hours when many of the thoughts I am telling you popped into my mind. I thanked God for inspiring me, but the thoughts interfered with my prayer to the extent that I had to stop praying and write down the ideas so I would remember them.

Iíve only been a deacon for about two years. Father N.ís quality of prayer must be much better than mine. And how good must Archbishop Beltranís quality be?

Let me tell you about Cardinal Joseph Bernadinís prayer, which I read in his book The Gift of Peace written just before his death five years ago. In prayer, he was as human as the rest of us. His problems with prayer were the same as mine still are.

Cardinal Bernadin said, "Lord, I know that I spend a certain amount of that morning hour of prayer daydreaming, problem-solving, and Iím not sure that I can cut that out. Iíll try, but the important thing is, Iím not going to give that time to anyone else. So even though it may not unite me as much with you as it should, nobody else is going to get that time."

My mind particularly wanders during two prayers we will say at Mass today: the Creed and the Our Father. I always feel somewhat sad at my inadequacy because the Creed is what the whole Church and I believe, while the Our Father is the manner in which Jesus taught us how to pray.

Some times while praying, my mind wanders off to topics of a religious nature, and thatís okay. But many times, my mind is problem solving for the upcoming week. In this case, my prayer is automatically coming out of my mouth and not from my heart. This kind of prayer is similar to that of the Pharisee into dayís gospel reading, because the prayer will not change me if I donít realize what I am saying.
How many times have you rattled off the Our father without having any idea what you said afterwards? Did you actually pray? If you did, was it quality prayer?

Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher and author, wrote that "Prayer does not change God, but it changes the person who prays."

In a similar vein of thought, the eminent biblical scholar, Raymond Brown, once said that if no change occurs as a result of prayer, then one has not really prayed.

The parable in today's gospel reading features two men at prayer in the temple. After they had prayed, both departed the temple and outwardly both probably looked the same to passersby.

However, as Jesus observed, one man left his prayer a changed person; he was justified, i.e., set in right relationship with God. The other was not. What accounted for the difference?

The Pharisee, it would appear, aimed his "prayer" in the wrong direction. It was all about himself. Rather than gaze in awe and gratitude upon God, he looked at himself, basked in the glory of his accomplishments, and liked what he saw. Then he looked around and was pleased that he found no one of comparable stature. He had not changed; he had not truly prayed.

By contrast, the tax collector looked, not at himself or others, but at God and flung himself upon Godís tender mercies, which transformed him with forgiveness. His prayer was authentic, because, through it, he allowed God to change him.

Although we must seek to improve our own quality of prayer, we must not feel lowly if its quality is lacking. The first reading should encourage us, for "The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal."

Today, as we depart from our time of prayer together, each of us will look outwardly the same. The change within us that is effected by our quality of prayer will become obvious as the coming week unfolds.

Whether or not that change can be sustained will depend upon the renewing power of quality daily prayer. If we donít change this week, weíll be like the Pharisee.

But, if we become changed through quality prayer, then each of us can become a catalyst for changing and transforming the world.