Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings for Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time [1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

Commentary:

Reading 1 Sir 35:12-14, 16-18

In this passage from the Book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) the effectiveness of prayer is extolled. The author explains that God hears the prayers of all and that one’s station in life makes no difference (“…he hears the cry of the oppressed”). God, we are told always hears the faithful and answers.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.

Psalm 34 is a song of praise and thanksgiving. In these strophes the song rejoices in God’s care for the weak and defenseless.

Reading II 2 Tm 4:6-8, 16-18

St. Paul sees the end of his life as imminent and gives thanks to God for giving him the strength and words to provide an adequate defense against his prosecutors. It is clear that he views his own impending martyrdom as an act of worship, visibly proclaiming the message he was sent to deliver to the Gentiles.

Gospel Lk 18:9-14

This selection presents us with the second of two consecutive parables on prayer. In this one, the Lord takes a critical stance against the prideful Pharisee, telling his disciples that, like the tax collector, their prayer must recognize that all have sinned and all must be humble before God. This parable carries a similar message and image of the earlier parable (Luke 7:36-50) where Christ forgives the sinful woman in the house of Simon.

Reflection:

There was once a young boy who loved movies. Because he was close to a number of theaters, he went to see them all the time. He had one particular favorite actor, a swash-buckling hero who always won the fight and always rescued and won the love of the beautiful heroine. One might say he became obsessed with this person.

The young boy took on his mannerisms his manner of dress. He read all he could about the actor and tried to be just like him. He was so good at imitating this actor that everyone who saw him recognized the likeness to the actor he idolized instantly.

One day a great opportunity came his way. The young boy was given the chance to meet his idol. He could hardly contain his excitement as the day drew near. This actor was going to attend the premier of his newest film at the theater right in the boy’s town. The day came and as luck would have it, the boy was able to meet the actor face to face. To the young man’s shock, the actor looked nothing like his stage version. When he smiled and opened his mouth to speak, he sounded nothing like the boy’s hero on the screen. Fortunately, the boy was so shocked he was unable to speak which the actor interpreted as shyness in his presence. But the image was destroyed and the boy went on to more important things in life.

We begin with this story today because it carries an important moral that relates to the message so loudly proclaimed in scripture. The boy in this story made a fundamental error when he began to pretend to be like his hero. He did not know the person. He only knew what he had seen from a distance and heard second hand. Had he been able to speak directly to the actor, he would have gotten to know him. He may have still held him in high esteem, but he would have done so because he knew the person.

Although the analogy breaks down rather quickly in this case, we have the same obligation when it comes to our Lord. We have known him from our infancy through the stories we have heard. We have known him from the things we have read about in scripture. We have even known him through others who did their best time emulate him, the Saints. But to truly know the Lord we need to speak with him, and more importantly let him speak to us.

One piece of that relationship captured by the analogy was our attitude when we do talk to the Lord. It must be one that recognizes that we have some “making up” to do. We are not “God’s gift to the world” (actually that was His Son, Jesus). We approach him in awe and praise him for the wondrous gift he has given and get to know him.

This is our pledge today, that we spend time with God in prayer. That we listen to what he has to tell us and understand what we need to do to imitate him.

Pax
[1] After Links to Readings Expire
[2] The picture used today is St. Dominic in Prayer by El Greco, 1586-90