Have mercy on me: The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

                                                       Have mercy on me 

The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 23, 2022

www.johnpredmoresj.com | predmore.blogspot.com

predmoresj@yahoo.com | 617.510.9673

Sirach 35:12-19; Psalm 34; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14

 

          In the parable of the two ways of praying, Jesus points out that what matters is one’s dependence upon God. The Pharisee is self-righteous as he judges himself by the laws he keeps and the good he does. Mind you, he is a good man who tries to live the faith as best he can. In fact, he is doing everything well that he has been taught, and yet, he has not learned to trust God. He places trust in what he can do and then he surmises that he is good and his actions are good because it complies with the official faith teaching. He then declares that he is better than others because of his good works. However, this is not our faith. Self-justification does not lead to salvation. He also engages in a damaging practice. He compares, and when one compares, one despairs. 

 

          We know that it is not about creating the perfect liturgy or doing things right or wearing particular clothing that makes us a trusting disciple. God does not judge those outward actions; God judges the heart that strives, and that is what we get with the tax collector. He knows he is in a hated profession because he is regarded as a traitor. Perhaps his esteem is low to begin with, but he knows his place in the world. He is trying to get by and he regards himself as one who depends upon the mercy of God, and that is what God looks for in a person. God judges well the heart that knows everything ultimately begins and ends with God. We get blessings and grace from God; God is with us when matters do not go well. Our fundamental disposition of knowing who we are and acting in accord with that humility will hold us in good stead for salvation.

 

          We then have to question the attitudes we bring to worship. Jesus reminds us that we cannot earn salvation through our own merits, so it is not about saying the right words or doing the proper actions. Sometimes just showing up and knowing that you trust God is enough. You don’t have to say anything but just being in the presence of the holy is enough. Depending upon God means that we can depend upon those God depends upon – the community of faith around us. These are God’s friends, and therefore, they are your friends by extension, and we grow into a more loving community because we first love God. 

 

          How do we love God? This is spelled out in the first reading. God hears the cry of the oppressed, the wail of the orphans, the complaint of the despondent widow, and the petitions of the lowly. We have to hear the cries as well, which means that we cannot rationalize away our responses. Otherwise, we are simply the Pharisees who proclaims self-righteousness and judges those who are not like him. It is not easy to love people who do not share the same etiquette, who do not take necessary levels of responsibility for their own situation, and those who do not go to therapy to process their life’s concerns. We may be outwardly patient while inwardly rolling our eyes. We don’t always like the needy when they try to get us to solve their problems or when they transfer their dependencies upon us. Somehow, they may not fully depend upon God and are looking for a human savior. We have to hear those cries, and we increase our trust in and dependence upon God. 

 

          The tax collector gives us the best advice that has endured for centuries. We come to church or we say in our private prayers, “Have mercy upon me, O God. Help me to become the best person I am capable of becoming by trusting in you and learning from your wisdom each day. I am who I am because of your great mercy.”

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

First Reading: 

 

Monday: (Ephesians 4) Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.

 

Tuesday: (Ephesians 5) He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the Church, because we are members of his Body.

 

Wednesday: (Ephesians 6) Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger,
but bring them up with the training and instruction of the Lord.

 

Thursday: (Ephesians 6) Draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the Devil.

 

Friday (Ephesians 2) You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.

Saturday (Philemon 1) Indeed I shall continue to rejoice, for I know that this will result in deliverance for me through your prayers and support from the Spirit of Jesus Christ. My eager expectation and hope is that I shall not be put to shame in any way,
but that with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.

 

Gospel: 

 

Monday: (Luke 13) Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.”

 

Tuesday: (Luke 13) Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”

 

Wednesday (Luke 13) Someone asked him, "Lord, will only a few people be saved?" He answered them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.

 

Thursday (Luke 13) Some Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose. Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day, for it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem.’

 

Friday (Luke 6) Jesus went up to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles.

 

Saturday (Luke 14) He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor.

 

Saints of the Week

 

October 23: John of Capistrano, priest, had a vision of Francis of Assisi when he was imprisoned during an Italian civil war at which time he was the governor of Perugia. He entered the Franciscan Friars Minor in 1415 after ending his marriage. He preached missions throughout Europe including a mission to Hungary to preach a crusade against the Turks. After the Christian victory at the Battle of Belgrade in 1456, John died. 

 

October 24: Anthony Claret, bishop (1807-1870) adopted his father's weaving career as a young man but continued to study Latin and printing. After entering seminary, he began preaching retreats and giving missions. He published and distributed religious literature and founded the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He was appointed archbishop of Cuba but was called back to Spain to be Queen Isabella II's confessor. He resumed publishing until the revolution of 1868 sent him into exile. 

 

October 28: Simon and Jude, apostles (first century) were two of the Twelve Disciples called by Jesus, but little is known about them. We think they are Simon the Zealot and Judas, the son of James. Simon was most likely a Zealot sympathizer who would have desired revolution against Rome; Jude is also called Thaddeus, and is patron saint of hopeless causes. Both apostles suffered martyrdom. 

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• October 23, 1767: The Jesuits who had been kept prisoners in their college in Santiago, Chile, for almost two months were led forth to exile. In all 360 Jesuits of the Chile Province were shipped to Europe as exiles. 
• October 24, 1759: 133 members of the Society, banished from Portugal and put ashore at Civita Vecchia, were most kindly received by Clement XIII and by the religious communities, especially the Dominicans. 
• October 25, 1567. St Stanislaus Kostka arrived in Rome and was admitted into the Society by St Francis Borgia. 
• October 26, 1546. The Province of Portugal was established as the first province in the Society, with Simao Rodriguez as its first provincial superior. 
• October 27, 1610. The initial entrance of the Jesuits into Canada. The mission had been recommended to the Society by Henry IV. 
• October 28, 1958. The death of Wilfrid Parsons, founder of Thought magazine and editor of America from 1925 to 1936. 
• October 29, 1645. In the General Chapter of the Benedictines in Portugal, a statement published by one of their order, that said St Ignatius had borrowed the matter in his Spiritual Exercises from a Benedictine author, was indignantly repudiated.