Commentary
Sunday, 10/27/2019, Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Pray in Faith with Obedience
First Reading Commentary: Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18
Sirach tells us that the LORD is a God of justice who knows no favorites and that the one who serves God willingly, is heard. In other words, the only thing that we have to do to be with God and be heard, is to want to be. It makes no difference who we are or where we come from. It does not matter how much we have or how poor we are. In fact, those who are the most unfortunate among us are sure to have God’s ear if their faith is strong.
If we treated each other without any sort of favoritism, there would be no divisiveness in the world. There would be no wars and no conflicts among nations or groups of people. All we would know is peace and that is what God wants for us.
God knows us better than we know ourselves and He listens to all of our petitions. God wants nothing more than to give us what we need so that we can be with Him in His Kingdom. Sometimes we seem to forget that when things are not going the way we want them to in life. But Sirach tells us to pray because God does hear the prayers of those who are in need.
Prayer should be our alternative to grumbling. When we grumble about our problems and disappointments in life, we look for somewhere to point the blame and when we do that, we turn against each other. We end up doing the exact opposite of what God wants us to do which is to treat each other in the same way that we want to be treated which is the way that God treats us and to do that without showing favoritism toward those whom we happen to like.
What Sirach tells us today is consistent with what Jesus told us—to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is the second part of the Greatest Commandment given to us by Jesus and therefore, one of the greatest things that we can do to serve God.
When we put our faith in God and obey His commandments, He will answer our prayers. We may not see the answer right away because God does everything on His time and in His time. The answer may come in a way that we are not expecting because God always answers our needs first. But faith and obedience will always bring results.
Last Sunday’s readings told us to be persistent and patient in our faith and when we pray. Today, Sirach gives us the same message. Sirach says, “The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal, nor will it withdraw till the Most High responds…and the LORD will not delay.” Sirach is telling us that no matter how tough times may be; keep on praying because God’s salvation may not be on our time but as always, it will be on time.
Finish the Race and Keep the Faith
Second Reading Commentary: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Paul said that he was being poured out like a libation and that the time of his departure was at hand. He realized that he was going to become a martyr. Paul was confident that he had given all that he could give of himself and that there was nothing left for him to give except his life which he was willing to give in sacrifice.
How much of a sacrifice are we willing to make? Is it as much of a sacrifice as God wants from us and just how much of a sacrifice does God want us to make? Keep in mind that God created all things for us and gave everything to us. Does this mean that we owe everything to God? No! God does not want us to owe Him anything. God wants us to freely give Him everything because of our love for Him which is the same reason why He freely gave everything to us—because He loves us.
Paul said, “I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” Our journey through this life is a race. It is a race against time and we never know how much time is left. It is a race to the finish line in heaven. But the finish line will elude us, if we do not keep the faith because faith is the only path that will lead us there.
The reward that Paul saw as awaiting him is the same reward that awaits us all if we finish the race and keep the faith. We will be victorious and receive the crown of righteousness which will be the prize awarded to us by Christ on the last day.
Paul said, “At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf, but everyone deserted me.” In Paul’s first defense, he experienced the same desertion that Christ did when He was arrested. But Paul also said, “May it not be held against them!” Paul forgave and interceded for those who deserted him and asked God to forgive them in the same way that Jesus asked the Father to forgive His persecutors when He said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Paul admitted to the fact that God had stood by him and had given him strength so that he could proclaim God’s message to the Gentiles. This is another opportunity to stop and think about the life of Paul, who before his conversion; was one of the most zealous persecutors of those who believed in Christ. Jesus took Paul’s determined zeal and used it so that Paul would become one of the greatest Apostles to proclaim the Word of the Gospel.
We all have a talent, however large or small and however noticeable or concealed. But do we open ourselves up to God so that He can put our talents to their best use? If we allow Him to, God will use our talents for our own salvation and for His glory.
There is another question to consider here. Who can we count on if not God? No one will stand by us in the way that God will. Some of us try to stand by each other and in fact, we should all stand by each other because that is living out the Second Greatest Commandment.
A good mother will defend her children to the death if necessary. But only God can and will protect us and deliver us from all evil if we place our faith in Him. Paul tells us that when he says, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.” Consider this: God does not defend us to the death. The Son has already done that. God defends us from death by granting us eternal life in heaven. All we have to do is choose it.
To that, our prayer should be the same as Paul’s, “To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Humble Yourself
Gospel Commentary: Luke 18:9-14
Today, Jesus gives us the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. They both went to the temple to pray and the Pharisee said to himself, “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity…or even like this tax collector.”
Whenever we pray, we should give thanks and praise for what we have and try to be specific about whatever our intention may be. He gave thanks but notice that the Pharisee made no intention and did not give praise. The only praise he gave was to himself claiming to be better than others especially, the tax collector as he bragged about not being greedy or dishonest or an adulterer.
Jesus is telling us that He and the Father are not impressed with how great we may think we are. We are all sinners and God is only impressed when we are honest with ourselves and with Him by admitting to our sinfulness and brokenness. When we approach God in a bragging mode, as did the Pharisee, the only thing that we prove is that the deadly sin of pride lives within us. Not only is God unimpressed, He does not hear us because He does not listen. God's ears are closed and that is because our ears are closed to Him.
But the tax collector said, “O God be merciful to me a sinner.” He admitted to his sinfulness and petitioned for mercy. That is a prayer that God will always hear and listen to and most importantly; God will answer that prayer. That’s the way that it is and Jesus confirmed it by saying, “I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former.”
If we have faith in Jesus, then we believe whatever He says. Jesus said, “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” If we exalt ourselves in this life, there is nothing for us in the next life. But if we humble ourselves in this life, we will be exalted in the next life and enjoy the peace and joy of heaven.
But there is something else to consider in this gospel. The Pharisee was doing the right thing by praying and giving thanks. The message for us is that if we do not pray with humility, we will not be praying in faith. We cannot place our faith in God if we are giving glory to ourselves and that is because the deadly sin of pride takes over.
We can do all of the right things: pray, go to Mass, be active in church, give alms to the poor and everything else. But if we do these things without humility, God will not be impressed because we will have exalted ourselves in this life. That will cause us to be unlike Paul in today’s second reading—we will not be able to “finish the race.”
