His Excellency,
The Most Reverend Edward K. Braxton, Ph.D., S.T.D.
Diocese of Belleville
October 26, 2025, 10:00 AM
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, Waterloo
“Lord, Be Merciful To Me A Sinner”
(This is the text as originally written. During the actual delivery, some passages were omitted and other comments were added spontaneously. Nota bene: This text has not been thoroughly proofread. Therefore, there may be errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation.)
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Good people can go to hell, and bad people can go to heaven.
Good people can do, say, think, and feel things that completely destroy their loving relationship with God, established for them by Jesus Christ, depriving them of life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Bad people can do, say, think, and feel things that completely restores their loving relationship with God, established for them by Jesus Christ, gaining them a place in the Kingdom of Heaven.This morning in Luke 18: 9-14, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, Jesus is talking to people who were certain of their own goodness in the sight of God, their place in the Kingdom of Heaven and treated others with contempt. He tells us: A Pharisee and a tax collector are in the temple praying, The Pharisee prays “God, I thank you that I am not like other people, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give ten % of my income to those in need.” The tax collector prays, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Amazingly, Jesus says, “the tax collector went home justified, and not the Pharisee.” To be justified means to be in the right relationship with God, the requirement for entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
At the time of Jesus, the crowd would have thought of a Pharisee as a good person, (like St. Paul, the former Pharisee who wrote in his letter to Timothy the words you just heard. “I have run the race; I have kept the faith. The crown of righteousness awaits me.” OMIT?) The Pharisees were considered outstanding leaders of the community and the best members of the temple. They were the moral, clean-living, conservative, God fearing people. So, when Jesus tells this story, people are shocked to hear that it is NOT the Pharisee but the tax collector who goes home justified, that is, ready for Heaven.
The tax collector was clearly a bad person. Tax collectors were notorious for working for the Roman Empire, extortionists who collected excessive taxes from the Jewish people. They were considered despicable criminals, outcasts, hated by their fellow Jews. But when the tax collector prayed, he spoke to God from his soul, standing at a distance from the sanctuary. He bows low, beats his breast and prays in a brief seven words, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
All the good things the Pharisees says about himself are true. He was not an extortioner, not unjust, not an adulterer; he did fast twice a week, and he did give 10% of his wealth to those in need. The Pharisee is sincere about all of the good things he is praying about in his life. Jesus never suggests he is a hypocrite. He is praying to God feeling good about himself for living the way he is supposed to live according to the Law of Moses. He is a righteous Jew. And he went home righteous but NOT justified, not ready for Heaven. Why? because he had a tragic flaw. Sinful Pride! He did, said, thought, and felt things that destroyed his loving relationship with God, established for him by Jesus Christ, depriving him of life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Pharisee’s prayer is completely self-centered. He spoke with such overconfident as if he were praying to himself! “God, I thank you.” He uses “I” many times in just a few sentences. His prayer of gratitude may be spoken to the Lord, but it is really about himself. He seems to think he had justified himself. And worst of all, rather than acknowledging even one of his own sins, the Pharisee speaks contemptuously of others including the tax collector and presumes to name their sins. Sinful Pride!
To understand how shocking this parable was to His listeners, imagine if Jesus said, “Two people enter a Catholic Church to pray, and one is a respected leader of the parish; the other runs an abortion clinic in another city,” or, “Two people enter a Catholic Church to pray; one is a dedicated priest who has served his parishioners faithfully for many years. The other is secretly the leader of a hate group that openly expresses hatred of Jewish people, People of Color, and people of different sexual orientations,” or, “Two people enter a Catholic Church to pray; one of them was known for extraordinary generosity to the poor and those in need and the other had a long hidden history of abusing minors.”
The parish leader, the priest, and the one who gives to the poor pray in these words. “I thank you, God, that I am such a good Catholic and not like most of the other people in this church. I actively participate in the Sunday Eucharist every week; I receive Communion regularly, and I even go to Confession. I write a generous check for the parish each week. I am faithful to my spouse, and, through my hard work, I am very successful in my business. (The priest prays, “I have built a beautiful new church, I am running an excellent Catholic school, and I am completely faithful to my life of celibacy.”) All three pray, “We may not be saints, but we are certainly far superior to the despicable abortionist, the leader of the hate group, and the child abuser. We are very proud of all that we have accomplished, and we are sure that, when we die, we will have a place in the Kingdom of Heaven. We are certain that we are justified.” Sinful Pride!
But Jesus says, “Now the person who ran the abortion clinic, the person with a heart full of hate, and the one who abused children pray, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” It was these three who went home justified, not the others.” Why? Because their prayer was God centered not “I” centered. They acknowledged the depth of their sinfulness that had destroyed their relationship with God. They profess their utter dependance on God’s amazing grace for the conversion of their hearts. “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
The three “good” people in the church, like the Pharisee, assumed they were close to God because of their strict observance of Church requirements. But they have replaced God in their live with their own pride. There is a reason why, in the Purgatorio of his 14th-century epic poem, “The Divine Comedy”, Dante Alighieri lists the great sin of Pride as the first of the seven deadly sins. “Pride cometh before the fall!” (Proverbs 16:18)
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
Jesus’ startling parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector has sharp teeth that can bite each of us hard. Jesus is teaching each of us that God alone sees over and above external observances to the depts of the human heart.
"For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled and all those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
“Good people can go to hell, and bad people can go to heaven.”
In the days of the week ahead, I encourage each of you to meditate on Luke 18, 9-14 and take a moment at the end of each day and pray the seven-word prayer of the tax collector.
“Lord, have mercy on me a sinner!”
Praised be Jesus Christ! Both now and forever. AMEN!