First reading Hosea 5:15-6:6
What I want is love, not sacrifice and holocausts
The Lord says this:
They will search for me in their misery.
‘Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us;
he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds;
after a day or two he will bring us back to life,
on the third day he will raise us
and we shall live in his presence.
Let us set ourselves to know the Lord;
that he will come is as certain as the dawn:
his judgement will rise like the light,
he will come to us as showers come,
like spring rains watering the earth.’
What am I to do with you, Ephraim?
What am I to do with you, Judah?
This love of yours is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that quickly disappears.
This is why I have torn them to pieces by the prophets,
why I slaughtered them with the words from my mouth,
since what I want is love, not sacrifice;
knowledge of God, not holocausts.
Responsorial Psalm 50(51):3-4,18-21
What I want is love, not sacrifice.
Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
In your compassion blot out my offence.
O wash me more and more from my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.
What I want is love, not sacrifice.
For in sacrifice you take no delight,
burnt offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a contrite spirit.
A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
What I want is love, not sacrifice.
In your goodness, show favour to Zion:
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice,
burnt offerings wholly consumed.
What I want is love, not sacrifice.
Gospel Luke 18:9-14
The tax collector, not the Pharisee, went home justified.
Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else: ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’
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Humble need for God
“Humility is to walk in the truth” (St. Teresa of Avila). In today’s parable, the tax collector recognised the truth of who he was before God. Without any list of virtues and law-abiding acts that the Pharisee had, he came to prayer, fully aware of his poverty and deep need for God’s love and mercy. In asking God for what he needed, he encountered God in prayer. On the contrary, the Pharisee was too rich and arrogant within to see his need for God. In his self-sufficiency, he missed the opportunity to welcome God into his heart.
Are we humble when we come to prayer? Or are we blinded by the list of our achievements and talents to the point that we have no room for God in our hearts? Jesus continues to speak to us to cure us of our pride. “Walking with God’s people, walking with sinners, even walking with the proud: how much the Lord did in order to help the proud hearts of the Pharisees. …Jesus always waits for us. This is the humility of God” (Pope Francis). Today, let us walk humbly with God.
Reflective question:
Do I recognise my need for God?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year C” by Sr Maria Jose FMVD.
