Saturday March 30, 2019
God Sees What It Is in Us
Introduction
We cannot save ourselves by rites and practices. Sin is forgiven and lasting happiness found in an encounter of love with God. If we recognize that we are sinners, people who have failed at times and who could do better, we recognize that our love is still very limited, and then, there is room for growth. God bandages our wounds and raises us to life. He saves us from our failures. He makes us grow in the life of Christ.
Opening Prayer
Lord, our God,
you yourself remind us through your holy people
that all our religious practices,
even this Eucharistic sacrifice,
are not worth anything
if we use them to bend you our way.
God, may we come to you
in humility and repentance,
ready to encounter you in love
and to turn your way.
Accept us as your sons and daughters,
together with Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord for ever.
Reading: Hos 6:1-6
"Come, let us return to the LORD,
it is he who has rent, but he will heal us;
he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds.
He will revive us after two days;
on the third day he will raise us up,
to live in his presence.
Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD;
as certain as the dawn is his coming,
and his judgment shines forth like the light of day!
He will come to us like the rain,
like spring rain that waters the earth."
What can I do with you, Ephraim?
What can I do with you, Judah?
Your piety is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that early passes away.
For this reason I smote them through the prophets,
I slew them by the words of my mouth;
For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice,
and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Responsorial Psalm: PS 51:3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab
R. (see Hosea 6:6) It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.
Be bountiful, O LORD, to Zion in your kindness
by rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem;
Then shall you be pleased with due sacrifices,
burnt offerings and holocausts.
R. It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.
Verse Before the Gospel: Ps 95:8
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
Gospel: Lk 18:9-14
Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
“Two people went up to the temple area to pray;
one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,
‘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.’
But the tax collector stood off at a distance
and would not even raise his eyes to heaven
but beat his breast and prayed,
‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
Intercessions:
– That we may acknowledge before the Lord that we are still wounded people in need of healing, we pray:
– That we may not be concerned about outward appearances, but that our life and actions may be sincere and transparent, we pray:
– That we may not boast to the Lord what we have done for him but acknowledge what he has done for us, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord, our God,
we have not come together here
to justify ourselves before you
or to boast of our merits.
We simply ask of you, Lord,
to accept us as we are
with our goodwill, our lame efforts
and our half-hearted conversions.
Accept us with the sacrifice of your Son,
who stays with us and lives with you for ever.
Prayer after Communion
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
we have celebrated with your Son
the memorial of his sacrifice.
Give us the strength now
to make our everyday life
into a living proof,
that we are one with him
and that we follow him
on the way through death to life.
Let him stay with us,
now and for ever.
Blessing
God will heal us and bind up our wounds. We do not boast about ourselves but about the patient love and goodness of the Lord. May Almighty God bless and heal you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Commentary
Ritual has meaning when it is the expression of an inner spirit. Otherwise practice becomes an empty shell. The scriptures today illustrate this principle with considerable clarity. Hosea speaks to Ephraim and Judah, the northern and southern kingdom of the Hebrew people. They have long since shown their lack of an authentic commitment to the Lord; their expressions of faith are transient and vanishing. Their piety is like a morning cloud, like the dew that quickly passes away. Yet the ritual contin¬ues, but to no avail. “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”
The Gospel today goes on to make an added point in saying that one cannot judge by externals. The Pharisee was a member of a respected and bonafide Jewish body; the tax collector was the employee of a foreign power, an occupying force. The Pharisee practiced worthy expressions of faith—fasting and tithing—but it had led to self-adulation and very clear shades of superiority. The tax collector, with head bowed, could make no religious claims, but his heart was right. In a spirit of sincerity, he simply asks God’s mercy. It is he who went home justified, totally dependent on the goodness of God.
Since comparisons are odious, we do well to avoid them. If we strive to be faithful, it ill behooves us to compare ourselves with others, who, at least by external standards, show little or no effort. Paul tells us that if anyone would boast, he should boast in the Lord. We are what we are by the grace of God to whom we remain deeply grateful. A man cannot get to daily Mass but never fails to stop in church for a short time as an expression of his faith. Religious is ultimately a matter of the heart, a theme to which Christ returns time after time.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit, a heart contrite and humble you will not spurn.
Points to Ponder
Religious practice versus a religious spirit
A piety that vanishes as quickly as the dew
Humility, a recognition of God’s goodness.
