Winner (2025-10-26, Sunday 30th)

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Homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Luke 18:9–14)

“The Winner and the Loser in God’s Eyes — and the Truth of Our Bodies”

1. Two Prayers, Two Hearts

It’s the World Series in baseball right now between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers. I hate to remind you that the New York Mets nor New York Yankees is playing this year — but among my family and friends, we’re still watching baseball. The first thing my father said to me on Saturday was, “You know, the Blue Jays won Game 1 against the L.A. Dodgers last night.”

We all like to know who wins and who loses — in sports, in elections, even in cooking contests. There’s something in us that wants to see who comes out on top.

But today, Jesus tells a story that flips our idea of winning.

Two men go up to the temple to pray — one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. Everyone assumes the Pharisee will “win.” He is disciplined, religious, well-respected. The tax collector, meanwhile, is despised as corrupt and unworthy.

Yet Jesus declares that the tax collector — the supposed “loser” — goes home justified, while the Pharisee does not. The difference lies not in what they have done, but in how they pray.

The Pharisee stands tall and recites his résumé: “I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all I possess.” He thanks God — but only for himself.
The tax collector stands far off, cannot lift his eyes to heaven, and simply says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

And then Jesus delivers the shocking twist:

“Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Saint Augustine called that broken-hearted prayer “the key to heaven.” Pope Francis says it plainly: “Humility is the necessary condition to be raised by God.”

2. Competing Well — Humility as the Real Victory

In life and in faith, we all want to compete well. Saint Paul writes, “I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race.”
But in the Christian life, the true winner isn’t the strongest or most impressive — it’s the one who kneels.

Even in sports, the best athletes aren’t just those who break records; they’re the ones who respect the rules, play with integrity, and honor the game. God’s commandments are like those spiritual rules — not to restrict us, but to make love and freedom possible. They teach us how to “play” with joy and discipline and creativity.

The Pharisee tries to win by self-promotion. The tax collector “wins” by surrender. And in God’s eyes, that surrender is the real triumph — because humility opens the door for grace to enter.

It takes courage to pray like that — to say, “Lord, I need you.” Pride builds walls; humility opens doors. And once that door opens, mercy rushes in.

3. The Body’s Theology — Learning Humility in Our Flesh

This same truth shines in the Theology of the Body taught by Saint John Paul II.
He said that the human body reveals the person — it’s not a shell but the visible sign of the invisible soul. The body has a spousal meaning: it’s made to give and to receive love.

But before the body can become a gift, the person must recognize his or her limits — just as the tax collector did before God.
The Pharisee’s pride treats body and soul as trophies of self-achievement.
The tax collector’s humility sees both as a gift — fragile, yet chosen and loved.

Only when we accept our dependence on God can our bodies become vessels of authentic love.
That’s why John Paul II said that the awareness of our creaturely limits is at the heart of chastity: self-mastery that frees us for self-gift.

Humility, then, isn’t weakness — it’s the foundation of love, because it acknowledges that love comes from God, not from self-invention.

4. Body and Soul — “What God Has Joined”

Today many people ask, “Who am I, really?” Society often answers that identity is self-defined or self-negotiated. But the Gospel tells us something different: identity is received, not constructed.

The Catechism teaches, “By creating the human being man and woman, God gives personal dignity equally to both… each should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.” Our biological reality is not a label; it participates in the dignity of being made in God’s image.

And just as Jesus said of marriage, “What God has joined, man must not separate” (Mt 19:6), so too in each of us, God has joined body and soul. To separate them — to treat the body as disposable or meaningless — is to divide what God Himself has united.

This is not about ideology or condemnation; it’s about mercy grounded in truth. When the Church upholds the goodness of the created body, she isn’t excluding anyone — she’s defending everyone’s dignity.

5. Parents and Children — The School of Humility

This calling begins at home.
Parents, your vocation is holy. You are your children’s first teachers of humility, tenderness, and forgiveness.

Children learn about God’s mercy by watching you. When they see you admit a mistake or say, “I’m sorry,” they discover that dignity isn’t lost by humility — it’s deepened by it.
When they hear you pray, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” they learn that even the strong rely on a greater strength.

You are, in a sense, your children’s “coaches for confession.” You teach them not only how to say the Act of Contrition, but how to believe in God’s mercy.
And when your children see that you, too, depend on grace — that you return to confession, that you forgive and ask forgiveness — they learn that humility is not weakness but the heartbeat of faith.

In a world that prizes perfection, you show them that integrity grows through humility, not through a perfect record. You teach them that being male or female, body and soul, is not a limitation but a blessing — a sign of God’s creative love.

6. Living the Humble Truth

How can we apply this …:

·        Examine your prayer. Does it sound like the Pharisee’s résumé or the publican’s plea?

·        Listen before you speak. “Be quick to listen, slow to speak” (Jas 1:19).

·        Practice small acts of humility: say “thank you,” “please,” “I forgive you.”

·        Teach your children, and one another, that the body and soul together are God’s masterpiece — not to be divided or redefined, but received with gratitude.

·        And return often to confession, that sacred space where humility meets mercy — where we, like the tax collector, go home justified.

7. Conclusion and Prayer

The Pharisee came to the temple full — and left empty.  The tax collector came empty — and left full of grace.  True dignity honors the unity of body and soul.

True freedom is found not in self-definition, but in self-gift.
True love begins with the humble prayer: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Lord Jesus, be merciful to us, sinners.
Teach us humility before You.
Help us to receive our bodies and our identities as gifts, not burdens.
Strengthen parents and children to live as men and women made in Your image, and to find in Your mercy the greatest freedom of all.

May we, like the tax collector, go home justified — not by our merit, but by Your love.