“Two men went up into the temple to pray.”
Two men go into the temple to pray.  One abounds with good works but to this he joins pride, “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not like the rest of men.”  The other is burdened with sin but to this he joins humility, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”  The humble man alone leaves the temple justified.

Christ spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves as just and despised others.  We will consider the nature of pride, morally sinful pride, and the pride of the pharisee.

Whenever we find a surpassing excellence we may speak of pride.  Understanding pride this way, we allow for pride which is morally good as well as that which is morally sinful.  Just as we say, "take pride in your work", so might one rightly have a sense of superiority in one respect or another.  A highly gifted musician feels superior in his field, a mother is proud of her son’s accomplishments - both are consonant with humility as long as the musician and the mother recognize the good they praise (and are proud of) comes ultimately from God.  Moreover, we know that grace builds on nature and does not destroy it.  God wants us to perfect our natures... and it would be a lack of humility to bury our talents or pretend they were not there.

But mostly when we speak of pride we speak of the sin of pride.  If I disregard the source of my excellence; if I abuse my neighbor in recognizing my excellence; or, if I boast of an excellence I have not,...I have sinned through pride and am worthy of reproof.

The sin of pride is defined as the inordinate desire for one’s own excellence.  Sinful pride is the beginning of all sin.  Sinful pride turns man away from God to some creature, namely, worldly fame or human glory.  And even though my life should be blameless and filled with good works, if disordered pride finds a place in my heart - my life is a tragedy.

St. Gregory the Great enumerates four kinds of sinfully proud men:  those who think the good they possess is from themselves, i.e., more and more the USA or atheist; those who think the good they possess is due to their merits, i.e. the “self-made man”; those who boast of what they have not, i.e. the school yard bully; those who, while holding others in contempt, desire to appear as though they alone possess what they have, i.e. the pharisee in today’s gospel.

The pharisee in the today’s gospel suffers from the pride of appearing as though he alone possesses an excellence, “I am not like the rest of men” while simultaneously holding another in contempt, “...robbers, unjust, adulterers; as is this publican.”  The pharisee enters the temple only to leave a worse man.  For thinking he alone possesses an excellence, he has despised his neighbor ~ something foreign to God and charity.  The worst part, however, is that he does dot know his fault which is characteristic of pride - it blinds us from seeing our own defects & sin.
  
Our Savior warns us against trusting in ourselves as just.  To profit from this warning, we must take it to heart.  We must guard ourselves against the vice of pride which works ever so subtly to corrupt our spiritual life much as a termite destroys a home.  The outside looks good, but inside is hollow.

 A friend of mine, mother of a large family who converted to the faith some 18 years ago, is a great devotee of the Latin Mass.  Every once in awhile she complains to me, “Why is it that I, a convert, have progressed so far in the Catholic faith yet all these cradle Catholics are so lukewarm?” before ending with a comment like, “Obviously, these Catholics do not take their faith seriously.”

My advice to her is cautionary.  Pride corrupts by degree and I see in my friend a certain disposition, a crack into the doorway to her heart, by which the devil may enter... who wants us to say with the  pharisee, “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not like the rest of men.” 

Rather than find fault with our neighbor, St. Augustine directs our attention to ourselves and has us repeat the words of the publican, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”

For it is rash for us to make a conclusion known only to God.  And we must temper our thoughts with certain considerations: perhaps this person has received less grace of conversion than I; perhaps I shall fall away from the faith in a few years time while these I now call lukewarm will ardently advance in virtue; or, perhaps these Catholics would have profited more from the grace God gave to me had it been given to them. 

“There is no sin committed by another which I, by reason of my frailty, may not commit;” writes St. Augustine, “and if I have not committed it, it is because God in His mercy has not permitted it and has preserved me in goodness.”

Fr. Garriguo-Lagrange, O.P. says this thought inspired many saints to comment concerning the criminal on death-row: “If this man had received the same graces that I have been receiving for all these years, he perhaps would have been less unfaithful than I.  And if God had permitted in my life the sins which He permitted in this man’s, I would be in his place and he would be in mine.” (The Three Ages, p.123)
 
As a side bar, it is my opinion that Catholics who too freely criticize the holy father are more often than not infected with pride.  For, if it is true that the holy father holds the primacy of place among the successors of the apostles; if it is true that he is vicar of Christ of earth, i.e. he governs in place of Christ on earth to guard and guide the Church; and if the teaching is correct which decrees that the papacy has no judge but God alone... then it is extremely rash to fault the pontiff concerning things necessary in faith & morals and foolish to do so in smaller matters without great hesitation and reluctance.  God has not appointed me judge over His papacy.  If I choose that task I only echo the serpent of old who stormed heaven with the cry, “Let us be like unto God.”

Having said all this, I will read an accommodated  version of today’s parable... which I need to hear most.  Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves as just & despised others.  Two Catholics went to church to pray.  One a tridentine, the other, a novus ordo.  The tridentine, standing, prayed thus: “O God, I give Thee thanks that I am not like the rest of Catholics, ‘feel good worshiper, singer of protestant hymns, adulterer of things religious; as is this novus ordo.  I abstain on Fridays, I fast from midnight on before communicating; I wear a head veil and scapular; I have a devotion to St. Philomena.”  And the novus ordo, standing afar off, would not so much look up to heaven, but struck his breast saying, “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”     

In summary, in doing our good works let us not forget that Christ warns us against trusting in ourselves as just.  I should not so much think what is wrong with others but what is wrong with me.  It was the not the pharisee, filled with good works but faulting others, who was forgiven but the publican, who looked down, and into his own heart, and beat his own breast saying, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”