30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); October 26, 2025

Sir 35:12-14,16-18.  Ps 34.  2 Tm 4:6-8; Lk 18:9-14

Deacon Jim McFadden

       The Old Testament passage from Sirach 35 in our first reading summarizes the recurrent biblical conviction that God gives special consideration to the prayers of the oppressed and needy and those who seem least in our society.  Jesus underscores that “special consideration” in Matthew 25 when he says that what we do to the least of his brethren, we do to him.  Psalm 34 affirms that the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and crushed in spirit and hears the cries of the poor.  Both Sirach 35 and Psalm 34 carry an implied challenge to us: just as God identifies with and shows partiality to the poor and those on the margins of society, if we are to be right relationship with the God of love and justice, we, too, must do the same.  Indeed, the cry of the poor is the Church’s cry of hope. And, as Pope Leo stated in his first Apostolic Exhortation, Dilexi Te: Love for the poor is not optional for Christians.

         The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in our Gospel reading makes a similar point, that God hears the prayers of some very surprising persons.    It begins with the prayer of the Pharisee, which actually begins well: “God, I thank you” (Lk 18:11b).  This is a great beginning, because the best prayer is that of gratitude, that of praise as we recognize that everything we are and everything we have come from God’s gracious love.  But, immediately though, we learn the real reason he gives thanks: “that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector” (v. 11c).  He then goes on to boast about his religious accomplishments: specifically, he fasts twice a week while there was only yearly obligation and pays tithes on all of his income, though tithing was only prescribed on the most important products (cf. Dt 14:22ff).  In short, he boasts because he has gone over and beyond what is required in fulfilling the commandments.  But he has forgotten the greatest commandments: to love God and our neighbor (cf. Mt 22:36-40).  Brimming with self-assurance of his own ability to keep the commandments, his own merits and virtues, he is focused only on himself.  His prayer was so self-referential that it was hardly a prayer at all.

         The tragedy of this ostensibly religious individual is that he is without love.  Even the things that he does—fasting and tithing—really don’t count for anything if they’re done without love (cf. 1 Cor 13).  Without love, he ends up praising himself instead of praying to God.  Did you notice that he didn’t ask God for anything because he does not feel needy or in debt to God? Indeed, he seems to imply that God owes something to him!  He stands in the temple, being very self-satisfied about his accomplishments, and, at the same time being very alienated from God and despising his neighbor.

Are we like the Pharisee?  Have we treated others like scraps that can be thrown away if they are not useful to us?  How many times have we done this, personally or nationally?   Consider the millions of  unborn babies that have been killed since Roe v. Wade. Look at how we treated Native Americans, erasing their history, taking their lands, nearly eradicating them from the land they had occupied for millennia.  Or, the Original Sin of our country—namely, slavery which morphed into racism and white supremacy which still oppresses our black brothers and sisters.  Or, the exploitation of Creation, which has left our precious planet a wasteland, which God had meant to be lived in to benefit everyone.     

Let us pray for the grace not to consider ourselves superior to anyone and not be become cynical or scornful of others, especially those who do not belong to our political or economic or social tribe. 

         Now let us turn to another kind of prayer. The tax collector, whatever his failings may have been, knew who God is and who he is before God.  He simply prayed, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner” (Lk 18:13c).  He had the attitude of dependence on and complete trust in God.  He knew who he was.  He accepted that he was a sinner, but he believed in God’s mercy and compassion to put him in right relationship to God.  He was not approaching God from his accomplishments but his shortcomings, not from his riches but his poverty.  His was not economic poverty—tax collectors in his day were very rich as they tended to make money unethically—but he felt a poverty of life.  The tax collector knew that he had exploited others, and so he came before God in his poverty and humility.  Unlike the Pharisee who stood in front of the Temple on his feet (cf. v. 11), the tax collector stood far off and “would not even lift up his eyes to heaven,” because he believed that God is indeed great, while he knew himself to be small.  He “beat his breast” (cf. v. 13) because his breast is where his heart is.  Unlike the Pharisee, his prayer was coming straight from his heart.  He was being honest, transparent, and trusting.  He places his heart before God, not his accomplishments.  He simply and completely believes in God’s love and compassion to forgive him.

         Brothers and sisters, as we reflect upon this parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, let us rediscover that our prayer begins with trust and gratitude for God, who is loving and merciful towards those who come to him.  God delights in us, and when we align ourselves with Him through our daily spiritual practices, we will experience His grace to receive His peace and joy. 

         If we’re honest with ourselves, we all have a bit of the Pharisee and the tax collector in us because we all are capable of sinning, of separating ourselves from God—everyone one of us!  We can tend to be presumptuous and embrace the conceit that we can do things by ourselves, especially as we look down on those who are floundering.  But, we don’t have to stay there:  let us strive to be like the tax collector and beat our breast; to speak to God from our heart, trusting God’s ongoing love and mercy. When we place our heart before God, we follow his path not only to treat all of the human family equally but also to minister to the poor, oppressed, and marginalized. May we have confidence and trust in our God to do His will in all our endeavors.

Reflection Questions:

1. How does Sirach 35, Psalm 34, and Matthew 25 speaks to you?
2. Do you pray like the Pharisee or the tax collector?  A little bit of both?
3. The tax collector “beat his breast.”  Do you pray from  your heart?