💖 HOMILY - MARCH 18 💖

First Reading - Hosea 5:15-6:6

Gospel - Luke 18:9-14

How do we approach God? Is it with the intention to demonstrate what we have achieved or done or in humility to recieve His mercy? The readings of the day invite us to approach God with real humble heart.

The first reading lays the background for our reflection on our approach to God. Hosea unravels the expectations of God from the humanity; it's not superficial repentance arising from fear of being punished by God and expressed in sacrifices and offerings but a real contrite heart or a changed self. He affirms, It's faithfulness of love (expressed in humble contrition of sin) for God is what pleases him more than sacrifices and offerings. Therefore, Hosea throws an invitation of real contrition of sin through the passage.

The main theme of today’s Gospel is that true humility must be the hallmark of our prayers. However, the central focus of today’s parable is not prayer, but rather pride, humility, and the role of grace in our salvation. The parable was mainly intended to convict the Pharisees who proudly claimed they obeyed all the rules and regulations of the Jewish law, while they actually ignored the Mosaic precepts of mercy and compassion. Through this parable of Jesus, Luke was reminding his Gentile listeners that God values the prayer of any humble and contrite heart.

In the parable, Jesus tells us about two men who went to pray, a Pharisee and a tax-collector. The Pharisee stood in the very front of the Temple, distancing himself from his inferiors, and explained to God his meticulous observance of the Mosaic Law, at the same time despising the publican. But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to Heaven but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” Jesus declared that only the humble tax-collector went home justified in the eyes of God.

Dear friends we need to evict the Pharisee and revive the publican in each one of us. There is a big dose of the Pharisee’s pride in us and a small dose of the tax-collector’s humility. Hence, we have to make a pilgrimage from pride to humility, realizing the truth that if we are not sensitive to other people, we are not sensitive to God.

Let us have the correct approach in our prayer life. For most of us, prayer means asking God for something when we are in need. We conveniently forget the more important aspects of prayer: adoration, praise, contrition, and thanksgiving. If we have forgotten God through our years of prosperity, how can we expect Him to take notice of us when something goes wrong? Yet, even there His mercy welcomes us. Our day’s work and our day’s recreation, if offered for the honor and glory of God, are prayers pleasing in His sight. 

Let's pray that our prayer may become an expression of our humility.