30th Sunday of Ordinary Time Homily October 23, 2022

 30^th Sunday of Ordinary Time    Homily                                       October 23, 2022

            Do you enjoy hearing people brag and boast?   Me, not so much.  But that is what we have in two of our readings today.

In our second reading today we heard:  “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.”   Remember that?

In our Gospel we just heard: “I fast twice a week and I pay tithes on my whole income.”

Both of these men – and of course it would be men – are boasting.   One is a great saint, for Paulists the greatest saint.  And the other is condemned by Jesus as a hypocrite full of hot air.

What is the difference?  More importantly, how can we distinguish the saint from the sinner?  In politics and on social media we hear a lot of boasting, especially in the campaign ads.  In the Church today we have competing understandings about liturgy and the mission of the Church.  How do we decide which are good, sincere people telling us the truth, and which are bags of hot air selling us a rotten deal? 

Well it ain’t easy. 

          The issue that makes the difference is how you look on everyone else.   The Pharisee in the Gospel despised other people, especially those who did not live up to his moral code.  The Pharisee says: “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity -- greedy, dishonest, adulterous -- or even like this tax collector.”   The Pharisee is using his accomplishment to separate and distance himself from others, and worse, to hold himself above others.   As the Gospel states, the pharisees: “were convinced of their own righteousness, and despised everyone else.    

          There are plenty people today, in the Catholic Church, who are convinced of their own righteousness and despise everyone else.         They especially despise Pope Francis for not being strict enough and adhering rigidly to Catholic doctrine, especially about sex.  Pope Francis’ pastoral outreach to the divorce and remarried, to gays and lesbians, to people of other faiths, and other cultural traditions, upsets and angers them.  You can find a lot of that upset and anger on the internet.  And I believe it is pretty clear that, like the self-righteous Pharisee in the Gospel, they despise others who do not come up to their high moral standards, especially around sex.

          On the other hand, St. Paul doesn’t do that.  St. Paul instead gives God the credit for his righteousness.  St Paul recognizes just how much he is like everyone else; not how much he is unlike others.  In recognizing that everything is gift St. Paul admits that he is just like everyone else.  His accomplishments are not from himself, but are God’s gift.  He states: “But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, … The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.  To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

          This is a very different approach from the Pharisee.  Paul is full of GRATITUDE.  The Pharisee is full of self-righteousness. 

          None of us chose to be born.  None of us chose when or where to be born.  None of us chose what kind of family with what economic advantages or disadvantages we would have.  None of us earned our health, intelligence or native abilities.  None of us provided for our childhood education, or what inspirations and role-models we would have in life.  None of us chose our gender nor our sexual orientation.  All that, and much, much more was pure gift. 

          In acknowledging our accomplishments we really are thanking God for wonderful gifts we have received.  But we also are recognizing our fundamental identity with all human beings, no matter how enriched or how impoverished, no matter how brilliant or how mentally challenged, no matter how agile or how crippled, for we do not start out on a level playing field.  It is all gift.  All of our accomplishments are fundamentally based on gifts we have received; gifts we did not earn, gifts we did not even deserve. 

          When we boast of our successes and accomplishments, we must boast of them as gifts, and recognize they are given to us by God to share.  The gifts we have in talent and abilities and advantages are not meant for us alone, but for all.  And when we boast we must recognize how all of us - no matter the color or nationality or religion or right handedness or left handedness or politics – all of us are all beneficiaries of God’s love.  And we are all one.  Our boasting is meant to bring us together, not to pull us apart.

          That is why the tax collector went home justified:  not only because he was repentant, but also because he recognized his fundamental humanity, the need we all have before God.  And in that, we all are the same.  AMEN.