(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: https://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Mass-Blog-for-the-30th-Sunday-in-Ordinary-Time-2025.mp3)
“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.”
The righteous actions of this self-righteous Pharisee (whose prayer we read in Luke’s gospel this Sunday (Luke 18:9-14)) pale in comparison to the good behavior of some of history’s most murderous gangsters. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Al Capone opened a soup kitchen—keeping thousands of Chicagoans fed. He also donated to charities, funded medical clinics and helped poor families pay their rent. “Scarface” and Luke’s Pharisee had one motivation in common.
Both craved the worldly benefits of good public relations. But brotherly love was a mystery to them. Whatever love they dispensed went to those deserving it—just as their revenge was spent on those “asking for it.” Quite a contrast with how God is described in Sunday’s excerpt from the Book of Sirach (Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18):
The LORD is a God of justice, who knows no favorites. Though not unduly partial toward the weak, yet he hears the cry of the oppressed. … The one who serves God willingly is heard.
The self-service of the most generous criminals—and even some church goers—is often more willful than willing. Ulterior motives fuel the willful, and access to the fruit of their service is guarded by the thorns growing with it.
That can’t apply to you and me, can it?
The bitter fruit of human ego is more easily recognized in others than in ourselves.
Take Paul, for example. In Sunday’s letter to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18), he seems to be bragging about his slavish service to God. One might even be tempted to detect a note of pride in Paul for having devoted his life to spreading God’s word.
I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day.
But Paul concludes that thought by including others in his prayer …
…and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance.
Such longing may come late in life, once we realize that all the soup kitchens we funded and all the tithes we paid haven’t made us any worthier of an eternal reward.
The humility inspiring this realization is the fruit God hungers for. He became one of us to let us sample it so generation after generation of us would learn to harvest it for Him. He even planted its seeds in the same parable showcasing that self-justifying Pharisee.
The little eight-word prayer of the tax collector sharing the same worship space with the Pharisee says it all:
“O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”
Unrepentant thugs throughout history learned the hard way that self-made crowns of righteousness sprout thorns. Our God wore a crown of thorns so we wouldn’t have to. But we are called to put on Christ’s humility so we can escape pride’s solitary confinement and help others do the same.
Because we ARE like the rest of humanity.
–Tom Andel
Well put Tom! This message could easily pull into question whether our works even matter as long as we have faith, since so many are done for our own vanity. That is why I am grateful for The Church’s guidance of faith and works. So many times, people, including myself, put these in reverse order and it makes all the difference. Works matter but they should be led by what is in our hearts.
The North Star of our faith where works are concerned is in Matthew 25:35-40, where Jesus assesses our life and times “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me,” FOR, “whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Pride and ego are the downfall of so many and likely the ball and chain most of us drag around.
These are the vices that act as a wall between us and Christ, keeping us from growing closer. I am convinced that some of this is in our own hardware, or better put, traits we are born with. Some of it is how we adapt to the world around us.
Lack of humility not only separates us from Christ, but it can also steal our peace and joy. He only wants what is best for us. We need to get out of his way and let him lead us!
Good point, Thomas. In many ways, pride and ego ARE part of our programming for survival in this competitive world. Many employers see them as a plus–or even as requirements for leadership positions. But they can be as intoxicating as any drug, and just as fatal if they become vices blinding us from following Christ along the only road to lasting success.