Are You Really the One?

 

Deacon Dave · Are You Really the One?

Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent, Dec. 11, 2022. Isaiah 35:1-6, 10; Gospel of St. Matthew 11:2-11. Theme: Are You Really the One? 

 For over a thousand years before the birth of Christ, God’s people awaited the arrival of the Messiah. The prophets had foretold that this “One-Who-Is-To-Come” (as the Messiah was sometimes called) would work great signs and wonders to show that God’s Kingdom was breaking into human history. We heard one of these prophecies in our first reading from the Book of Isaiah. And then in the Gospel Jesus quotes that same Old Testament prophecy in response to the questions posed by St. John the Baptist: “Are you really him? Are you really the long-promised Messiah? Or should we look for another?” Our Lord uses Isaiah’s description of the Messiah's mission as a kind of resume to affirm his identity: the blind see, the lame walk, and the dead are restored to life. 

 Now, I find the question of St. John the Baptist to be both confusing and encouraging at the same time! First let’s look at the aspect of it that can be confusing to me. Why would he ask if Jesus was the Messiah? He had great proof that he was! At the Baptism John saw the Holy Spirit come down upon his cousin Jesus in the form of a dove. In addition, he clearly heard God the Father’s voice identifying Christ as his beloved Son. And we know he recognized Jesus as the Savior because he said about him: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” 

 But this leads me to the encouraging part. The experience of the saints tell us that a crisis of faith is a normal part of growing in our relationship with Christ. So, why should we exclude St. John the Baptist from going through this common spiritual experience? And the fact that he asked this question of Jesus while he was imprisoned is a very important clue to this possibly being a crisis of faith. I mean, after all, don’t we all tend to question God and double-think his love for us particularly when we are going through struggles, sufferings and difficulties? 

 At such times we might find ourselves re-examining key things we profess to believe: Is Jesus truly God and risen from the dead? Does God actually hear our prayers and answer them? Is Heaven for real or is it just a pipedream to get us through the fear of death? It’s tempting to ask these questions, particularly at Christmas. Why? Because we spend time singing “Joy to the World” for the Prince of Peace has come, but then we encounter the daily news and hear all the terrible things going on around us. Where is the Kingdom of Peace? Where are the glad tidings of comfort and joy? And so we wonder… has he really come? Is he who he said he was? Or should we look for the way to peace from someone else? 

 But if we dare to ponder further into this mystery of evil, I think we will see that our doubts are arising because of us, not because Christ is “less than” he said or we believed. We, and not Jesus, are the ones who have failed to be what we said we were: Christians, who are called to love others as Christ has loved us. We are in effect blocking the Prince of Peace from bestowing his reign of harmony upon earth because we refuse to live by the teachings of his Gospel. We are supposed to be the leavens of peace in the world but we allow sin and selfishness to get in the way. 

 So, before I place blame where it doesn’t belong, I need to ask myself, “What situation or relationship in my life is contributing to the disharmony in the world?” “Where or with whom am I supposed to be a messenger of the Prince of Peace?” The Nativity of Jesus is an opportunity for us to humble ourselves at his manger in spirit and to recommit to the Christmas message of bringing “peace to people on earth.’ 

It’s within each of us and within each of our lives that charity and social harmony through spiritual rebirth begins. An old but still popular religious hymn from the 1950’s that says this well, ”Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me..” A corrupt heart will corrupt everything it touches, but a healed heart can begin to heal the environment around it. And so the Prince of Peace begins the work of changing the world by changing each one of us who live in it! This transformation by God’s grace is an important part of what we mean by “salvation”. St. John the Baptist’s core message was, “Repent, prepare the way of the Lord, for the Kingdom of God is near.” Let's follow his directive by asking Jesus to clarify our doubts and to strengthen our faith, so that our lives as Christian instruments of peace will affirm that he is indeed the “One-Who-is-toCome”.

Christ Comes to Us in History, Mystery & Majesty!

 

Deacon Dave · Christ Comes to Us in History, Mystery & Majesty!

Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, Nov. 30, 2025. Gospel of St. Matthew 24:37-44. Theme: Christ Comes to Us in History, Mystery & Majesty! 

 Well, here we are at Advent once again, with our traditional Wreath calling us to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. We Catholics have been observing this time of preparation for Christmas since at least the 5th century. Its name comes from the Latin Adventus (which means “arrival” or “coming”), a word that was originally used in ancient Rome to describe the arrival of the emperor. We simply co-opted it to describe the coming of Christ, the King of Kings. 

 During this season, the Church asks us to expand our minds and go beyond seeing Advent as just a countdown to Christmas. We are asked to widen our perspective to include the three traditional comings or advents of Jesus. The first was when he was born in Bethlehem. The second is how he mystically comes to us today by grace through faith. And the third turns our attention to when the Lord returns to us in glory. We call these three advents the coming of Jesus to us in history, in mystery and in majesty. We can also simply call them Advent-Past, Advent-Present and Advent-to-Come. And an echo of them found their way into the plot of one of our most beloved holiday tales, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. 

 I’m sure that many of you will recall that this story takes place on a bleak and cold Christmas eve in mid-19th century London. A greedy old miser named Ebinezar Scrooge, who has a ba-humbug heart of stone, is awakened throughout the night by three mysterious spirits: the Ghost of Christmas-Past, the Ghost of Christmas-Present and the Ghost of Christmas-to-Come (do you see the three perspectives there?) Through his dramatic encounter with them he is converted and totally transformed into a generous Christian man overflowing with Christmas joy! These three ghostly manifestations of the triple-meaning of Advent can teach us to embrace the season more fully by remembering what Jesus did for us in the past, by embracing what he wants to do for us in the here-and-now of the present, and by living in such a way as to be prepared for his coming in the future.  So let’s take a quick look at each of them. 

 Advent-Past focuses, of course, on the Nativity story. And it’s so very easy for us to get caught up in it and to stay there in Bethlehem, what with its stable and manger, with its angels and shepherds, with its mystical magi and their precious gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. But Jesus doesn’t want us to spend our time just remembering what He once did for us, as marvelous as it was. While celebrating Christmas to keep the Nativity story alive in our memory, Jesus wants us to move on from Bethlehem. He wants us to realize that just as his first coming made a difference in the world back then and ever since, so his present coming to us in the here-and-now can make a real difference in our lives today and moving forward. 

 Jesus wants us to truly embrace and live in Advent-Present where he comes to us in many ways, three of which stand out among the others because he himself told us that they are where we would find him. He comes to us in the real presence of the Eucharist which we take into our hands. He comes to us in the Word of God by which he speaks to us through the Gospels. And he comes to us in the disguise of the Needy Poor with whom he closely identified himself. In these three ways we will find the one and same Jesus coming to us today, right now, just as surely as he once came to Joseph and Mary. In these three ways we can adore him like the shepherds of Bethlehem and we can seek him out and pay him homage like the magi who traveled from afar. 

 And lastly, we have Advent-to-Come. Now this was the most dramatic and effective part of Dickens' story. You’ll recall that the Ghost of Christmas-to-Come led Ebinezar Scrooge to the site of his future grave and made him really ponder it. This was a very sobering experience for him in which all of the lame excuses he had for not embracing the joy of Christmas and for not having compassion on the suffering of the poor faded away! This reminds us that the purpose of Advent-to-Come is to help us live Advent-present most fully and to the best of our ability. It does this by having us face the fact that our time on planet Earth is limited and will indeed come to an end, either because we will pass from this world or because Christ will come again in glory as he said in today's Gospel. In other words, no matter how we look at it, Advent-to-Come is a serious wake-up call that should make us get our act together! 

 But you know, when all is said and done, if we stop to think about it we will see that Advent-Present is really the only aspect of Advent that is truly ours to live because Advent-Past is history and Advent-Future is yet to come. With this in mind, if we spend our Advent-Present well, welcoming Jesus as he comes to us in the Eucharist, listening to Jesus as he speaks to us in the Gospels, and reaching out to comfort Jesus as he suffers in the needy poor, then we will be best prepared to receive the ultimate gift of Christmas that he offers us. It’s the very same gift that was offered to Ebinezar Scrooge at the end of the Dickens novel: the gift of a new outlook on life that can make everything seem new again and fill us with abundant spiritual joy.

Viva Cristo Rey! Long Live Christ the King!

 

Deacon Dave · Viva Cristo Rey! Long Live Christ the King!

Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King, Nov. 23, 2025. Gospel of Luke 23:35-43. Theme: Viva Cristo Rey! Long Live Christ the King! 

 Ninety-eight years ago today, on Nov. 23, 1927 at 10 o'clock in the morning, a 36-year old Jesuit priest was taken from his death-row cell and marched across the prison yard. He had been surveillanced for years and was considered to be one of the most wanted men in Mexico. His capital death-penalty crime was simply that he was a Catholic priest who refused to stop ministering to the Mexican people. As he walked he held a crucifix in one hand and a rosary in the other. One of the guards approached him and with tears in his eyes begged forgiveness for what was about to happen. 

 Upon arrival at the wall of execution, the priest asked permission to pray. Kneeling before a wall that was stained with blood and riddled with bullet holes, he asked God for the grace to remain faithful to the end. Then, he stood up, extended his arms in the form of a cross and, facing the firing squad, exclaimed in a loud and steady voice: “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” “Long live Christ the King!” Shots rang out and the priest fell to the ground. To the surprise and humiliation of the government authorities - and despite the danger to themselves by forming an illegal assembly - 60,000 Catholics attended the heroic priest’s funeral in Mexico City. And throughout the ceremony the defiant but prayerful last words of the martyr were repeatedly shouted by the crowd: “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” “Long live Christ the King!” 

That priest was Father Miguel Pro, whom we now honor as a martyr and a saint. Born and raised during the bloody religious persecution of Catholics in Mexico in the early 20th century, he actually lived for a short time not too far from here down in Los Gatos. He was hunted down and unjustly condemned to death precisely because he believed with all his heart what we are celebrating in today's liturgy: that Christ the King is Lord of all peoples and Lord of all things including politics and public social life, and that no earthly government has the authority to deny people their religious liberty or to eject God from public civic life. 

He preached by his life and testified with his death that a person’s faith-relationship in Jesus Christ is not simply a private matter. It is not something to be reserved just for Sundays, or confined to the walls of a church, or kept politely within the parameters of one’s personal life. The light of Christ the King is meant to shine on everything, it’s meant to shine on everyone! It’s meant to transform people and thus also transform society. And it’s we Christians who are supposed to help to make this happen. We are called to be like “living candles” whose flame of faith enlightens those with whom we live, work and socialize. This means that our decisions and behavior must reflect our relationship with Jesus in all that we are and all that we do, both in private and in public, at home and at work, in all aspects of our lives no matter what that might be. This is how we do our part to enable the Kingship of Christ to have a real influence in our neighborhoods, in our schools, in our workplaces, in our laws and in society in general. 

 This social reign of Christ the King is truly the only sure solution to the rampant violence, drug deaths, confusion and division that plagues our nation and our world. Many people think that the answer to our social troubles lies in education and politics, but these things are not the final answer because they are utterly powerless to bring about real change by transforming the human person. You see, society is simply the reflection and sum total of those who live in it and so the only way to renew and change society and culture is to renew and change the people. And that begins with ourselves. This can only happen by the grace and power of God. Once he is freely welcomed and enthroned in the human heart, he can begin changing us from the inside out. 

 So we need to spread the Word and tell others the Good News. This is precisely what the Second Vatican Council called lay people to do in order to live as missionary disciples who strive to make the world a better place. We need to each become heralds of Christ the King, telling people that the happiness they desire with all their hearts, the happiness that they were created to enjoy, has a name and a face: it is Jesus of Nazareth.

The End Can Be The Beginning!

 

Homily for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Nov. 16, 2025. Gospel of Luke 21:5-19. Theme: The End Can Be The Beginning!

 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus foretells the destruction of Jerusalem and its Sacred Temple about 40 years before it took place in the year 70AD.  It was a building so magnificent that people couldn’t help but marvel at it. It was the pride of Israel, a symbol of God’s presence, a structure that seemed immovable, eternal. Jesus’ words must have shocked everyone when he said: “All these things you are admiring—the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another.”

But you know, even the end of something we hold as precious can actually become the beginning of something greater and better. For example, from the ruins of Jerusalem there emerged the spread of the Christian Church. The Old Testament and the Old Law of Moses with its ineffectual Passover animal sacrifices for sin, gave way to the New Testament and the New Covenant of Christ, sealed with the atoning Blood of the cross and perpetually celebrated in the Eucharist. On the practical level how did this happen? Well, you see, heeding Jesus’ warning signs that we heard in today’s Gospel, the Jewish Christians escaped Jerusalem before its attack and collapse. Then afterwards, since there was no Jerusalem to return to, they became migrants and missionaries carrying the Light of Christ throughout the known world.  So what looked like the end of something good turned out to be the beginning of something even better.

And this wasn’t just the case for Judaism and destruction of Jerusalem. It was also the case for Catholicism and the destruction of Rome in the 7th century. Pope Gregory the First (now known as St. Gregory the Great!) saw the disintegration of society and government happening all around him. The ancient glorious Empire was gone, having been overrun by marauding barbarians from without and decimated by moral corruption from within. Law and order virtually disappeared. Its great monuments were in ruins.  Even the civil rulers abandoned the Eternal City leaving the remnant population in poverty and defenseless.  Gregory was the sole figure of authority left in the city and as such he rose to the occasion.

He refused to throw his hands up in despair and see the end as THE END.  Together with the clergy who remained with him, they put their hands and heads to work.  They took the debris and rubble and used it to rebuild. They started food distribution centers and opened up shelters for the homeless. The sick were cared for with mercy and the dead were given proper burials. Monks transformed their monasteries into schools so as to pass on the torch of education to new generations. Gregory and the Church became involved in politics and government administration because there was no one else left to do it.  And while it was a long and hard run, out of the old city’s total collapse came New Rome, which showed the indisputable ability of the Catholic Faith to be a spiritual and cultural force for good and which rebuilt and improved what we call Western Civilization.  What seemed like the end of something wonderful actually turned out to be the beginning of something greater and better.

This same dynamic of ending and beginning happens in our own lives. We all have a figurative “temple” or an “empire” that we cherish as sacred and that we cling to for security.  It could be a relationship, a career, our health or our wealth. Such things that seem solid and we think we can count on…things that we place our hopes in and deem unshakable can fall apart and come crumbling down like the Jerusalem Temple or the Roman Empire. And when this happens we are faced with the same choices as those Jewish Christians of Jerusalem or Pope Gregory and his clergy.  Will we give in to despondency and despair over what is ending? Or will we look to see the possibility of something better and greater beginning?  

We will each have to face this kind of a situation at some point in our lives and many of us have most likely already done so.  Christianity is not an escape from life’s troubles but it gives us the opportunity to walk through them with Christ at our side.  It reminds us that even if we are powerless in a particular situation we are never helpless. With Christ who strengthens us we can begin again and like Pope St. Gregory the Great, start laying the foundations for something better and greater that will be built up out of the rubble that now lies before us. 

What does that mean? It means that nothing can take away the hope and the help that God promises us. The world can shake, but our foundation is Christ. The world can threaten, but our trust is secure in Him. Even when everything else falls, God holds us up. The sure hope we have that the ending of one thing can become the beginning of something better rests upon the fact that the life-giving and life-changing power of our Risen Lord has not been depleted over the past 2,000 years. It is inexhaustible and available in every generation and to any one who surrenders their life to him. 

The message of Jesus today is not meant to frighten us. It is meant to free us. If we stand on Christ, we can walk through anything. If we trust Christ, we can survive anything. If we cling to Christ, we will endure through everything. A better future does not belong to those who keep looking back and weeping over what once was.  It belongs to those who move forward with confidence in God, who depend upon his Providence for their daily needs, and who seek first his Kingdom above all things. 

The Church as Building and the Church as People

 

Deacon Dave · “The Church as Building and the Church as People”

Homily for the Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica, Nov. 9, 2025. Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17; Gospel of St. John 2:13-22. Theme: The Church as Building and the Church as People

 What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “church”? Most Catholics would reply, “it’s where we go to Mass on Sundays”. But this is not what “church” means in both the New Testament and in Catholic teaching. When the Bible or the Catechism use the word “Church” what they have in mind is the community of God’s people and not temples designed for worship. 

 As a matter of fact there were originally no such buildings at all in ancient Christianity. The reason being that it was a forbidden religion whose members had to worship in secret before the Roman Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity in 313 AD. And so it wasn’t until 324AD that the very first public church structure was erected in Rome. It was built on land donated by the prominent Laterani family and dedicated to the two most famous Johns in the Bible: St. John the Apostle and St. John the Baptist. In honor of the patron saints as well as the donors, the church was named St. John Lateran. 

 The main reason we are celebrating its dedication in today’s Liturgy is precisely because it was the first and thus the oldest of all Catholic churches in the world. But in addition, it holds the distinction of being intimately connected with the pope because it’s his cathedral as the Bishop of Rome. This surprises many people because most think that St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City is his special church. While it’s true that that’s where the Holy Father makes most of his official appearances, it is St. John Lateran which is honored as the mother-church of all Catholic places of worship throughout the world. 

 Today’s feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran is a reminder that all church buildings throughout the world, be they famous and grandiose or poor and simple, stand as signs that the Kingdom of God has come among us. They are each a public proclamation that God exists, that God is with us. And so in every culture and in every part of the world there can be found temples and shrines to the homage to God. We need these manifestations of faith. We need these visible monuments of our invisible God. We need these tangible reminders that God dwells among us and with us. These sacred sanctuaries are where we gather as God’s consecrated priestly people to worship through, with and in his Son, Jesus. This is why they are specially “dedicated” in a way that is not done for any other kind of building. 

 But still, as important as they are, these physical structures are not absolutely necessary for us to live and grow as the Church. Persecutions throughout history and the assault of natural disasters have shown this to be true time after time. Even in our own day when the government closed-down our churches during the pandemic and when the raging California fires turned many of them into ashes, the “Church as people” continued its ministry, its worship and its works of mercy for the needy. You see, nothing can stop the Church of God from existing, from acting and from growing. 

 The words of Jesus in today's Gospel, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up again!” were spoken about his physical body, but they can also be applied to his Mystical Body that is the Church. Throughout history hostile governments have tried to destroy it but have failed. Even when it looked as if they had succeeded and all visible signs of faith were demolished (such as in many Communist-controlled nations) the Church remained present. Like the corpse of Christ in the tomb, it often went underground and seemed silent but it was simply awaiting resurrection. And time after time throughout history, once the persecutors were toppled from political power, the Church emerged from that tomb full of life and grace, because as Jesus promised, it is indestructible. 

 The reason for our spiritual indestructibility is found in our Second Reading. St. Paul reminds us that just as God dwelt in Jesus of Nazareth making him his holy temple, so God dwells within each one of us through grace and faith, making us his holy temples. We are fortified by the Divine Presence which dwells within us through Word and Sacrament. This means that nothing on planet Earth, and nothing in the whole universe, nothing whatsoever, can truly destroy us!

We All Survive Our Physical Deaths!

 

Deacon Dave · We All Survive Our Physical Deaths!

Homily for the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed on All Souls Day, Nov. 2, 2025. The Gospel of St. John 6:37-40. Theme: We All Survive Our Physical Deaths! 

Throughout world history there has always been a recognition that human beings survive physical death and pass on to another life. This universal belief has been found in every culture no matter how primitive or advanced it was. In other words, there has always been a deeply pervasive sense among human beings that there’s a much bigger picture to our existence than only the time spent here on planet Earth. There is a sense built into us that we are something more than just our minds and bodies. And this “something more” is what survives our physical deaths. 

This “something more” is what we call the immortal soul. Our souls empower us to do so many wonderful things that the rest of physical creation simply cannot do, such as thinking and choosing, loving and laughing, pondering lofty thoughts and exploring the unknown. And most importantly, because the soul is spiritual it’s immortal because spiritual things cannot and do not deteriorate or die like those of the material world. And this is why we can say with confidence that human beings survive physical death. 

 The Catholic Church, like every ancient community and culture, has developed its own rites for honoring the dead and expressing belief in the afterlife. Very early on, even before Christianity emerged from the Roman catacombs, prayers for the repose of the faithful departed were etched on tombstones and written into the liturgical books. There was always a conviction that we are not separated from those who have passed, but continue on with our relationships even if in a different way. As the Church calendar developed, November 2 was set apart as the annual day of commemoration of the dead and soon after this, the entire month of November was dedicated to that same intention. All Souls Day reminds us of three important Christian teachings about death and the afterlife. 

 First, All Souls Day reminds us that our relationships continue after physical death . Our Catholic funeral ritual tells us that when it comes to death, “life is changed and not ended”. This means that we continue on, that our existence is not concluded by death but simply moves into its next way of being. And so the deceased do not really leave us behind, it's just that we are no longer visibly present to one another. All Souls Day is an annual reminder that we are still connected and that we can keep up the relationship on a spiritual level. We pray for them because, even though they left this world with love in their hearts, they were still holding some of it back from God. And so before entering into the Direct Presence of God who is Absolute Love they are purified of this residual selfishness through the process of refinement that we call Purgatory. And we can walk with them and help them through this by the offering of our thoughts, prayers and Masses. 

 Second, All Souls Day reminds us that we Christians do not belong to death. Because of our baptismal relationship, a Christian does not merely die. A Christian dies in Christ. And those two words, “in Christ” make all the difference in the world! They mean that we do not belong to death; we belong to Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life! So, for those who live and die in Christ, death is not a black-hole of nothingness. Instead, it’s a doorway to a fuller experience of life filled with glory, joy and all that is good. And so, we Christians are not confused or silent in the face of death, as are those who do not have faith. We respond to it with the cry of “Alleluia!” because we believe in the resurrection of the dead and in the life of the world to come. 

 Third, All Souls Day reminds us that death is the Great Equalizer. The social status we had on planet Earth is no indication whatsoever of what our status will be in eternity. When you walk through a cemetery you can see huge ornate monuments elaborately proclaiming the prominence of those buried beneath or within. And you will also come across many simple crosses and metal markers that identify the resting places of the vast majority who were just us ordinary people. But underneath both kinds of monuments all of the deceased are one and the same. Death puts every human being on the same level. Our financial portfolio, our impressive work resume, our roster of friends and social contacts, our physical appearance and fitness will mean nothing at all. Those things will all be gone and we will turn into dust. The only thing that will matter is how sincerely we sought to love God and neighbor in this life. 

 And so, All Souls Day, and really the entire month of November, is a chance for us to not just remember our loved ones and pray for those who have died. It’s also a time to reflect on our own deaths, not in a morbid way but with a healthy dose of Christian realism. It's a time to put into practice the old proverb that says, “don’t put off until tomorrow what you should do today” because we do not have forever to come to know Christ better; we do not have forever to learn to love God and neighbor better; and we do not have forever to finally make those changes in our lives that we know need to be made in the remaining years given to each one of us.

Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

 

Deacon Dave · Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Homily for the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Oct. 26, 2025. Gospel of St. Luke 18:9-14. Theme: Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector 

 In today’s gospel a Pharisee and a tax collector go to the Jerusalem Temple to pray. These two men stand in stark opposition to one another and it seems that Jesus intentionally chose such a contrast of characters to emphasize that salvation is not something that we can earn or deserve. Rather, it’s a free gift of God that is given to the humble of heart and not at all the result of our efforts and religious practices. So, let’s take another look at these two men and see what they have to say to us. 

 On one hand we have a Pharisee. That name means “the separated ones” because the Pharisees prided themselves on remaining away from and untouched by the pagan influences all around them. Their idea of devotion to God was found in observing every little detail of the many religious rules and rituals that filled up daily Jewish life. Thus, they defined holiness in legal terms and their approach to God was like carrying out the various stipulations of a contract. The Pharisees represented the epitome of spirituality and righteous living to the people of Israel. So Jesus’ listeners would quite naturally assume that this man was the “good guy” of the story, the one who would obviously please God the most. 

 On the other hand we have a tax collector. Now, they were considered to be the most vile of Jewish men because they had turned their backs on the God of Israel in order to work for the pagan emperor-god of Rome. They were considered traitors who sold out their people for the sake of personal gain. Not only did they collect the unjust Roman taxes, but they padded their accounts to make sure that they got a nice fat commission off the blood, sweat and tears of their fellow Jews. They were despised in their villages and rejected by their own families. Those who heard Jesus speaking this parable would have been sure that there was no way that such a scoundrel could possibly be favored by God. But Jesus is always full of surprises! 

 As we just heard in the Gospel, the Pharisee entered the Temple and stood tall and proud as he confidently rattled off all his religious achievements. He was laboring under the false impression that he could sway God and purchase holiness with the currency of his spiritual practices and financial contributions. Now, his fasting and alms were both excellent deeds, but their religious value got spoiled when he turned them into a spiritual résumé that he assumed would win for him a divine pat on the back! 

 The parable then moves on to the tax collector who dared to enter the temple area. I say “dared” because it was a risky venture as he was not supposed to be there. You see, tax collectors were not allowed to enter the Jerusalem Temple since they were excommunicated from Jewish worship. But his inner desire to set things right with God made him take the risk. So, even before we hear his humble prayer for mercy, his actions reveal the deep yearning for God that was in his heart. Then once he was successfully inside, he wouldn't lift his eyes to gaze upon the sacredness of the Temple, for he felt himself unworthy to even look upon what was holy. Instead, he struck his chest in a gesture of penitence as he repeated: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” That’s all. No résumé of spiritual works. No excuses for his bad choices and selfish behavior. No promises that he might not be able to keep. He didn’t pretend to be anything other than what he was: a sinner in need of redemption. And because of his stark honesty with God he went home justified, which means “being put into a right relationship with God.” 

 Jesus astounded his listeners by making this tax collector the “good guy” instead of the Pharisee. What made him the hero of the parable was what we call “humility of heart”, which is an honest assessment and a truthful awareness about who and what we are in relation to the glory and holiness of God. The Bible tells us from beginning to end that it is precisely this interior disposition that attracts God’s mercy to us sinners like iron shavings to a magnet! In fact, humility of heart is really the only way to open the door to living life with God. Otherwise we shut him out because we are so full of ourselves that there is no room left for him! 

 While humility enables us to see and fully admit that we are sinners it doesn’t stop there because that’s not the whole story of who we are. Humility goes on to remind us that yes, although we are indeed sinners, we are nevertheless passionately and personally each loved by God our Father who is rich in mercy. Humility opens our eyes to the truth that we are all in need of his grace and that none of us is greater than another in God’s sight. It enables us to acknowledge our sins and so receive forgiveness. It expands our hearts so that we can have patience and be understanding of others because it reminds us that they too are sinners who stand in need of redemption. Humility moves us to forgive others just as God has forgiven us and to accept others just as Christ has accepted us. 

 I think that one reason why Jesus told this Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector is because he knows that there’s a bit of both men inside each one of us. Sometimes, if we are honest about it, we pray like the Pharisee saying: “O Lord, thank you that I’m not like that inconsiderate person at work… Thank you that I am not like that annoying neighbor next door… Thank you that I am not like that dirty bum on the street…” But then at other times we become more aware of our true moral status. Like the tax collector, we clearly see our spiritual poverty and so we cry out : “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”. Jesus invites each one of us to choose to walk on the challenging pathway of humility. And to help us better do so he has given us the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Eucharist so that through the grace bestowed by these sacred rituals, the Pharisee within us will shrink and the tax collector within us will grow until finally, he is the only one left standing and praying in the temple of our hearts.