Homily For The 30th Sunday In Ordinary Time. Year C. World Mission Sunday. October 27, 2022
We are all missionaries. Some give, by going; others go, by giving. Keep spreading the gospel message. Keep supporting the Church’s mission and missionaries around the world.
Sunday Readings
“The greatest enemy to the human soul is the self-righteous spirit which makes men look to themselves for salvation “
– Charles Spurgeon
My Dearest Friends,
The readings of today, particularly the Gospel, remind us of the necessity of expressing deep repentance by truly acknowledging our sins before God and others and desisting from self-righteousness because of our good deeds. We are saved by God’s Atonement and Mercy, not by our righteous deeds.
A sincere acknowledgment of our sins before God is an apology rendered right. I once told a friend that a sincere apology simply acknowledges and accepts full responsibility for the wrong done without any attempts to rationalize why it happened, or how someone else, including the person to whom the apology is rendered, contributed to the wrong done. Take a look at this apology:
“I am sorry if you were offended by my failure to carry out the assignment. You know, it was my brother that you first asked to do it, and he has been playing all day while I was busy.”
In this apology, did you notice the use of the conditional word “if ? It means being unsure of having wronged the other. Did you also notice how the blame was pushed on the brother which was introduced by the conjunction “but”? This is exactly why this apology is not sincere. The person that wrote the apology is blaming the person he is apologizing to for giving him the responsibility while the brother was free doing nothing. Therefore the apologizer should not be blamed for failing to carry out the responsibility. This is a problem with many of us. I used this illustration because when we reflect on the Gospel reading of today we see the same pattern of pushing the blame or comparing with others to prove how righteous or innocent we are and thus denying the wrong we’ve done.
In the example that Jesus gives us today, the tax collector represents a truly repentant person who renders a true apology to God. He prays “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” The Pharisee looks like he wrote the apology letter in my illustration saying, “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity.”
Last Sunday, we were encouraged to pray without ceasing believing that God will answer the prayers of those who call upon Him with faith. Today we are been reminded of another dimension or attitude of the heart in prayer. For our prayers to be heard we need to maintain a sincere heart or a truly repentant heart in the presence of God. We usually begin every prayer, even the Mass, with an act of contrition, acknowledging our sins before God, and asking for His Mercy to be filled with His Divine Graces. In the act of contrition, we render an apology to God. The question is how sincere and honest are we? Are you the Pharisee or the tax collector? Do the religious obligations you fulfill make you sinless before God?
Unlike the sincere apology we render to our fellow human beings, our apology before God should even be more sincere. Notice the tax collector’s posture. Jesus describes three kinds of body language before he voices the tax collector’s prayer: 1. standing at a distance because he doesn’t feel worthy to draw close to God or the temple 2. not raising his eyes to heaven, but standing with head level or bowed, as a sign of his sense of guilt 3. beating his breast as a sign of mourning( the mea culpa we do at Mass). The question is do we still mourn for our sins or glory in vain accomplishments like the Pharisee whose entire prayer is about himself? He thanks God, not for blessings, but that he isn’t a sinner like others.
It is habitual with many, even in the confessional, to give reasons to reduce the imputability of their sins. What truly makes an apology acceptable is taking full responsibility for the offense and that is what the tax collector did. Many seem to think that by stating reasons to exonerate themselves in the confessional, the priest would give them a lesser penance; but they fail to see the bigger picture of being in the presence of an all-holy God who alone forgives sins. In the presence of God, there are no excuses and we must all tremble like Isaiah who confessed, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (cf. Isaiah 6:5).
The first reading describes God as a God of Justice who knows no favorites. What does it tell us about our attitude to prayer? We are not the ones to justify our actions or exonerate ourselves of our misdeeds. God the Merciful Judge is the one who justifies us; He declares us free or punishes our sins. When we render a sincere apology, we move the other to compassion to forgive us, but when we don’t acknowledge our wrongdoing, we create more problems and misunderstandings. A formator in the seminary once taught us to keep repeating ‘am sorry’ as long as our boss continues to scold us for a mistake. He said, never attempt to explain. If explanations should come, let it not be while you are still in the presence of the boss nor at the moment he is still scolding you. Likewise in God’s presence, we should only be very sorry and say nothing but sorry because we have not reciprocated His love for us as we should, no matter how good we are. We don’t even deserve to be called His children because we have all sinned and fallen short of His Glory. His merciful and forgiving heart is what makes us His children, not because we deserve it through our actions. “The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. O God, you do not despise a broken and sorrowful heart .” ( cf Ps 51:17).
The tax collector went home justified because of his sincere and faith-filled penitence. A sincere act of contrition often ends with the promise, I won’t do it again. Learn to say it always. It shows you are truly remorseful.
We need humility to accept our mistakes. A humble person never finds it difficult to apologize. Arrogant people often do not apologize but when they do, they rationalize their mistakes and pride themselves on their accomplishments like the Pharisee’s self-righteous and disdainful piety.
Let us humble ourselves before God and show true contrition for our sins. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (cf. James 4:6)
With Saint Paul let us run our heavenly race in faithfulness to God to merit the unfading crown of glory when this earthly race comes to an end. May we be justified by God in the end.
We pray to God to give us the humble disposition to sincerely acknowledge our sins when we come into His presence and for the Grace to sincerely apologize to all those we have offended by our sin
I keep you and your family always in my prayers. ©Clem C. Aladi (2024)
Prayer: Lord you created me and know me through and through. You know I am a poor sinner asking for mercy and forgiveness. Give me the grace of sincere repentance for my sins and free me from every form of pride. Amen
