Homily of the Thirtieth Sunday in OT

One day, Satan complained to God: “you are not fair! Humans sinned many times, and you forgave them again and again. But we only sinned one, then you punished us to eternal death. God said: they sinned many times, but they asked me to forgive. Do you ask me for forgiveness? Satan became angry and screamed: I never ask for forgiveness. Then he ran away. That is pride.

In an interview, Pope Francis responded to the question: “who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope’s baptismal name)? He said: “I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon.” His answer expresses an understanding of who a human being is before God. Yes, we are unworthy creatures before God; without God’s mercy we are doomed.

Last Sunday, the gospel is about praying with persistence. Today, Jesus continues to teach us how to pray and what an attitude we should have when we pray. Many people would be surprised by how the parable ended. The tax collector went home with grace of forgiveness, but the Pharisee did not. How do we understand this parable?

The Pharisee was a good man who kept all God’s commandments. He kept fast and he did charity etc. the Pharisee was proud of himself, and he expected God also should be proud of him. We call it self-righteous. From this self-righteousness, he separated himself from humanity. However, the most important thing was that the Pharisee believed that he could save himself and he did not need Jesus’ redemption act. The Publican was a totally different presentation: he stood from afar, did not look up, but beat his breast and asked for God’s mercy.

What is God’s salvation plan? Briefly, when our first parents were disobedient to God, the human lost its eternal happiness. Humans lost their place in heaven. No human can redeem himself/herself from eternal death. God, in his had a plan to save us. He had sent his Only Son, Jesus, to the world to teach us everything about God and about humanity. He had to die for our sins and to restore us to God’s children again. So, through this parable, Jesus wants to tell us that the world needs to believe in the Son of God, who has come to save us. Like Saint Peter said in Acts 4:12: Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

Pride and self-ego are two vices we need to watch. Every time we think: I am a good person, I don’t need to repent; we step into the trap of pride and self-righteousness.

We come to God as who we are, but we also acknowledge we are parts of the Body of Christ; when the Body is hurt because of sins, we are also hurt. When we sin, we do not only hurt one person, but we hurt the whole Body. That is why at the beginning of the Mass, we are called to acknowledge our sins and ask for God’s mercy before we celebrate the sacred mystery.

Let me ask you a practical question: how long have you not gone to confession? 6 months, one year, two years, four years, or since you got your first confession? A mother asked me: she told her daughter to go to confession, her daughter said: I don’t have sins to confess. What should I tell her? To those who do not know your sins, let me give you a hint: you should ask yourself a simple question: am I Christ like to others? If the answer is NO, you need confession. When we celebrate the reconciliation regularly, we are practicing our humility and trust in God’s mercy.

Dear friends in Christ, when we gather in this church to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, we are reminded that: we are human, we need God’s mercy, and we also need others to help us to grow in holiness. Saint Paul said: he does not trust in human judgements, even in his own judgement, but in God judgement. When we see someone living in sin, we should not distance ourselves from them, but we talk with them to guide them the right way; we pray for their conversions. We should not be prideful and self-satisfying for good works we have done for humanity, but instead, we are grateful for God’s mercy continuing to pour out to us and to humanity.