Our gospel this 30th Sunday is a story of two believers - a Pharisee and a tax
collector. Both of them were believers in the same God; they belonged to the same
religion; they worshipped in the same temple. However, the gospel says that at the end
of the worship, one of them went home at peace with God but the other did not. What
happened then? Why only did one go home justified and the other was not?
I think we can identify the answer if we go back to the gospel and see how
each of them prayed. The Pharisee, in spite of being a very disciplined and devout
man, prayerful, and intensely committed to the religious traditions and laws, was arrogant
and proud. That was his downfall. However, the tax collector, who was regarded
as a man of low moral standards because he worked for the pagan Romans and constantly handled their unclean money and was a public sinner, was so humble that he could not even raise his eyes to heaven. He beat his breast and prayed, “O God be merciful to me, a sinner”. Because of this, Jesus said, he went home justified and received grace.
Like the Pharisee and the tax collector, we too have come to God’s house to offer worship and prayers. Like them, we too hope to go home at the end of this service, reconciled and at peace with God. Let us then learn from the tax collector the secret of worshipping in a manner that is acceptable to God. Firstly, we should not listen to other people when they look down on us, making us feel so bad that we are a sinner and they are holy. Secondly, we must humble ourselves and acknowledge our sinfulness, believing that the mercy of God is bigger than any sins we might have committed. Finally, let us never look down on our fellow sinners but help them in their search for God, just as the tax collector is helping us today in our search for God. Remember, God always opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
On a side note, every year we do the Mass of Remembrance for the deceased members in our parish on November 2nd, normally at 7:00 P.M. However, because this year November 2nd falls on Saturday, we will incorporate it into our regular 4:00 P.M. mass. Having said that, our liturgy will be a little bit longer as we will do the ritual of presenting a candle for the deceased members of our parish who passed away November 2nd, 2018 through November 1st of this year.