O God, Be Merciful to Me, a Sinner, the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time–Year C

My Sisters and Brothers:

In today’s reading from the Book of Sirach, we find the words “the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds” (see chapter 35, verse 21a).  What a wonderful lead-in to the Gospel’s Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican in which the tax collector prays the words “O God, be merciful to me a sinner” (see Luke 18:9-14). 

I love the message of these Scriptures!  They invite us to be humble, and they remind us of the great mercy of God.  And I believe they also speak of a Father in heaven who loves each of us more than we can ever possibly imagine!

Whenever I read today’s parable, I’m compelled to examine my conscience as I ask myself which of the two characters I can more identify. Perhaps it moves you to a similar reflection. We might then contemplate the following questions: Are we like the Pharisee who prided himself on his faith and good works, and who even claimed to be more worthy of God’s love than those who were simple and very humble? Or are we like the tax collector who recognized all of his failures, had fear in the temple, and while not daring to raise his eyes to heaven, begged for God’s mercy?

 

Perhaps each one of us can recall moments when we could have identified with either of these scriptural characters.  At times, like the Pharisee, we may have been filled with “spiritual pride” and may have been arrogantly and overly confident about our “religious selves.”  As such, we may have been tempted to exaggerate the importance of our pious practices, and this actually may have been detrimental to our otherwise faithful hearts.  Or worse, we may have thought ourselves better than others, especially those who are marginalized, and holding such people in contempt, we may have unkindly judged and/or condemned them as “sinners” and unworthy of our respect.  In contrast, and like the tax collector, we may have had moments when we doubted God’s mercy, and have been too unsure about our worthiness to speak to God in prayer.  We may have thought our weaknesses, and the “sins” of our lives, have overwhelmed any hope of our being loved by God.  With such thinking, and like the tax collector, we may have felt isolated from the community, and consequently we may have “kept a distance from God, and then not dared to raise our eyes to heaven.”

Today, the clear message is God has far more respect and mercy toward those who humble themselves than for those who do not.  With this in mind, it’s always good to remember those words “the prayers of the lowly pierce the clouds!”  And so we must not in any way be like the Pharisee, but in fact more like the meek and repentant tax collector! 

Let’s then humble ourselves and approach our compassionate God with repentant hearts; we are assured by the Scriptures we will then know that our Father in heaven loves each one of us more than we can ever possibly imagine!  As children so regarded and so loved, may we never consider ourselves better than our fellow human beings, especially those thought to be the greatest of sinners, and/or those whose life struggles are more than we can ever understand. 

Let’s always remember that mercy is shown to those who show mercy.  Amen! 

Praise God!  Friar Timothy

 

     Find me on Facebook by clicking on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/frayteo