Weekly Message
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C
Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18 • 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 • Luke 18:9-14
Mark Twain was a master at using humor and satire to make stories of injustice and tragedy more approachable and memorable for his readers. He didn’t shy away from writing about controversial topics but instead confronted them through earthy stories of characters with absurd names and amusing habits. Twain’s stories are also filled with striking “one-liners” that reveal universal truths about the human condition that we can still relate to today. For example, in his story of racial prejudice in the antebellum south, Pudd’nhead Wilson records in the notes of his calendar: “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.”
That sentiment gives us an opportunity to see the familiar story in this Sunday’s Gospel of Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and tax collector in a different light. Although Jesus tells us the two men stood at a distance from each other, He subtly lets us know they were aware of each other’s presence in the temple area (“O God, I thank you that I am not like … this tax collector.”). After praising himself, then looking across the room at the tax collector who openly prays to God for mercy, the Pharisee perhaps had second thoughts. Did the poverty of the tax collector’s prayer shame the Pharisee into reconsidering his position before God? Did the Pharisee utter to himself, “Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example” and walk away humbled?
My brothers, may we never forget that our actions and words are often observed by people across the room. Which character do they see: the humble and repentant tax collector or the self-righteous Pharisee? May our witness as men of humble prayer inspire others to question and perhaps reform their own relationship with the Lord. May we never be ashamed to beg: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”
In Christ the Servant + Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
Receive + Believe + Teach + Practice
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