2016 Oct . 23 / 30th Sunday (year
C)
• Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18 • Psalm 34 • 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 • Luke 18:9-14•
[__01__] Just
passing through.
What
we observe in this Gospel are two individuals who are passing through – going
or travelling through – the temple area in Jerusalem.
When we are passing through a new
place, a new city, a new country, we may feel, at times, excited, stimulated,
animated, enthusiastic. Also, we may
feel overwhelmed. We may be moved – or tempted – to compare ourselves to others
or to our surroundings. How do I compare
to the people around me? Are my
surroundings suitable – or right – for me?
[__02__] I can
recall with some vividness the first time – as a child – that I was on a city
street in New York City. I was downtown in the presence of many people, a
larger crowd than I had ever seen before. And, I was downtown, in the presence
of office buildings – multi-story structures – that overwhelmed me.
No mountain I have seen as an adult
took me more by surprise than the Empire State Building or other skyscrapers
seen as a child. I was comparing myself to their size.
[__03__] Going to a new place, passing through, we may
be excited, moved, animated, changed.
We may also feel uncomfortable at the
sight of – or through the encounter with – those around us. We may be tempted
to compare ourselves with others.
But, isn’t it true that encounters
with extraordinary height encourages us to grow taller and to think beyond our
own limits?
Our encounters with a person who is
different encourages to consider our own identity, rather than simply to
compare myself to him or to her.
[__04__] And, we could also say that our journey to holiness,
to spiritual salvation is not simply an encounter with the familiar.
[__05__] Sometimes,
the gifts of the Holy Spirit are delivered by unfamiliar methods and means.
Our path to holiness is an encounter
and understanding of what is uncomfortable, what is difficult, and also what is
sinful, broken, and what is unfamiliar.
Believe it or not, this is the Good
News.
This is the Good News for the tax
collector (the publican) of the parable.
The tax collector (the publican) is
willing and able to consider his own sinfulness before God. However, he does so
as an individual without comparison to anyone else.
The Pharisee is different.
The Pharisee is concerned with a
comparison with the weighted average of his own behavior and portfolio of talents.
He is also very concerned with the tax collector and tax collector’s history,
background and behavior.
[__06__] I am
not saying that we should not try to learn about our know others around us.
However, I am suggesting that we can use this knowledge as reasons for
compassion and forgiveness rather than for alienation.
As we read in Paul’s letter to the
Ephesians: “Be kind to
one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave
you.”
(Ephesians
4:32)
[__07__] Cardinal John Henry Newman writes that what
is true for the Church as a whole is also true for each of us. [1]
That is, we could find various
imperfections in the Church, the Catholic Church, the sins of Catholics, the
sins of priests, my own sinfulness, brokenness. We don’t put this in the
bulletin, but it’s there.
We could spend our time comparing our
virtue or our vices or our sins to those of others.
Newman’s point is that the Church
attains her holiness – as institution through and because of a continual
struggle with sinfulness.
And, we are called to do this
one-on-one with Jesus as our personal Savior, rather than in a zone-defense
comparison of ourselves with others.
[__08__] We attain holiness also because of our
struggle with sinfulness, with pride, with selfishness, with envy.
This struggle is what we call – in a
formal sacramental sense – our examination of conscience. This is a journey, a
journey toward holiness and humility.
[__09__] The
Good News is that our journey continues.
Preparing for the sacrament of penance
and reconciliation, for example, we realize that we are on the way to God’s
Promised Land.
However, as Newman also writes, we
leave the country and region of our sinfulness by passing right through it, by
confronting it, face to face, in movement.
[__10__] The
Pharisee is mistaken and stationary. He thinks he can stay in one place forever
peacefully and does so simply by gazing out the window from side to side at
others.
This is not salvation.
The tax collector, on other hand,
understands better that his salvation is a struggle for peace. He is facing
straight ahead, moving forward.
As in the words of St. Paul to Timothy
in the second reading, the tax collector will finish the race. (2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18)[__fin__]
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