Luke 18:9-14

Hosea 6:1-6

Psalm 51:3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab

Luke 18:9-14

Jesus addressed this parable

to those who were convinced of their own righteousness

and despised everyone else.

“Two people went up to the temple area to pray;

one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.

The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,

‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity —

greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week,

and I pay tithes on my whole income.’

But the tax collector stood off at a distance

and would not even raise his eyes to heaven

but beat his breast and prayed,

‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’

I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;

for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,

and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, many times you point to the two divergent paths I can take. There is a path of selfishness and pride that leads to death. And there is a path of love and humility that leads to life. Teach me always to choose the path that leads to life with you.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Hosea on Sacrifice and Mercy: Today’s readings continue a theme we saw yesterday: God desires our love more than the animal sacrifices of the Old Law. He longs for us to know him and enter into a covenant relationship with him. He wants us to imitate his merciful love more than to offer burnt offerings (holocausts) and animal sacrifices. In the First Reading, taken from the prophet Hosea, God finds fault with the fleeting piety of Israel (Ephraim) and Judah. They offered the right sacrifices, but this isolated action comes and goes like a morning cloud or like the morning dew. True love, on the other hand, remains and brings us into communion with God, who will not spurn a contrite and humbled heart. The second theme that Hosea introduces is that of mercy. Hosea knows that the day of God’s judgment is approaching. He uses the images of the dawn and spring rain to characterize the coming of the Lord. Just as we long to see the day, and just as we long for rain to water the earth, so also do we long for God. God is the one who will cure us and bind our wounds; he is the one who will wipe out our offense, wash us from our guilt, and cleanse us from our sin; he is the one who will raise us up on the third day.

2. A Sacrifice of Praise: The last part of Psalm 51, likely written during the time of the Exile, looks forward to the time when God will be pleased once again with sacrifice, with burnt offerings, and with holocausts. As sinners, we need a sacrificial mediator. We cannot purify ourselves on our own. Good intentions are not enough. The New Testament reveals that Christ, in giving his life, achieves a perfect sacrificial meditation for us. The Church shares in Christ’s sacrifice: on earth, the Church offers the sacrifice of compunction of heart and self-denial; in heaven she offers the sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice of the glory of the resurrection in praise to God (see John Paul II, Wednesday Audience, July 30, 2003).

3. A Humble and Contrite Heart: The parable in today’s Gospel offers us a model of a contrite and humble heart in the tax collector. Jesus has a target audience: those convinced of their righteousness. The Pharisee exemplifies this attitude of self-righteousness. He thinks wrongly that the heart of the law is in external works – works like fasting twice a week and paying tithes. He thinks that he is justified by what he does and accomplishes. He does not thank God for his mercy or his gifts but rather lists how he is unlike the rest of humanity and better than others. This is not a true prayer. In fact, the Gospel says that he prayed to himself! The Pharisee’s words are just thoughts about himself that have the goal of exalting and glorifying himself before God. The tax collector approaches God in a different manner. His head is bowed, his eyes are cast down, and he lifts up his heart to God in true prayer: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” The tax collector does not multiply the words of his prayer unnecessarily. God knows what we need even before we ask him. As a loving Father, God will give his children the good things that we need to reach him and share in his glory.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I can only offer the sacrifice of my life as an acceptable sacrifice to the Father. I unite my sacrifice to yours, asking humbly that you transform my poor offering. Teach me to pray as I should and know that I am righteousness only by your grace and my collaboration with it. 

Living the Word of God: How can I practice true humility today? Do I know who I am and who I am called to be in relation to God and in relation to my brothers and sisters?