Thirtienth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings of the Day
RB: Ch 20 Reverence in Prayer
Mass: Sir 35:12-14, 16-18; Resp Ps 34; 2 Tm 4:6-8, 16-18; Lk 18:9-14

The Lord hears the cry of the poor.

HEART OF JESUS, VESSEL OF JUSTICE AND LOVE,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity-greedy, dishonest, adulterous-or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.

(Lk 18:11-12)

For a nudge with today's words from the Pharisee, I turned to my trusty The Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Cistercian Publications, 1975). I found this under the entry for Issac the Theban: "One day Abba Isaac went to a monastery. He saw a brother committing a sin and he condemned him. When he returned to the desert, an angel of the Lord came and stood in front of the door of his cell, and said, 'I will not let you enter.' But he persisted, saying, 'What is the matter?' and the angel replied, 'God has sent me to ask you where you want to throw the guilty brother whom you have condemned.' Immediately he repented and said, 'Get up, God has forgiven you. But from now on, be careful not to judge someone before God has done so'" (pp. 109-110). We turn now to the Book of Sirach: The Lord is a God of justice, who knows no favorites (Sir 35:12). 

O GOD, BE MERCIFUL TO ME A SINNER.

(Lk 18:13)

God accepts the despairing, hopeless sinner, and rejects the self-righteous … for the broken-hearted God's mercy is boundless.

(Joachim Jeremias, Rediscovering the Parables)

The defect of the Pharisee is not that he gives thanks for what God has done for him … but that he harbors prideful disdain for other people. 

(John R. Donahue, Hearing the Word of God)

And more from our friends the Desert Fathers:

Whenever his thoughts urged him to pass judgement on something which he saw, he would say to himself, 'Agathon, it is not your business to do that.' Thus his spirit was always recollected.

(Agathon, p. 23)

Abba Poemen said to Abba Joseph, 'Tell me how to become a monk.' He said, 'If you want to find rest here below, and hereafter, in all circumstances say. Who am I? And do not judge anyone.'

(Joseph of Panephysis, p. 102)

The monk must die to his neighbour and never judge him at all, in any way whatever.

(Moses, p. 141)

The same abba said, 'A dog is better than I am, for he has love and he does not judge.

(Xanthias, p. 159)

© Gertrude Feick 2019