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.
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.
In your goodness, show favour to Zion:
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice,
burnt offerings wholly consumed.
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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The Pharisee and the tax-collector
In the gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector who go to the Temple to pray. The Pharisee looks good on the outside. He follows religious rules, is disciplined and morally upright. Yet his prayer is not truly directed to God; it is an act of self-praise. He compares himself to others and sees himself as better than them. The tax collector, on the other hand, stands at a distance. He does not dare to raise his eyes. He simply prays, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” He brings nothing but his need. According to Jesus, it is the tax collector who goes home justified.
This parable reminds us that pride can even hide in religious devotion. We can fast, serve, pray and yet secretly look down on others or depend on our own goodness. Pride closes the heart because it leaves no room for God to act. Humility, however, opens the door for God’s mercy to enter. Let us ask for the grace to embrace humility, recognising our poverty before God, so that we may grow in our compassion for others.
Reflective Question:
Do I identify more with the Pharisee or the tax collector in today’s parable? Why?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year A” by Sr Maria Jose FMVD
