October 27 // 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading I: Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18
Responsorial Psalm 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23
Reading II: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Gospel: Luke 18:9-14

If we are humble God hears our prayer. That is the message in today’s Gospel. Tell God how hard you work for God’s people and how much you donate and you will get nowhere. Hang your head low, humbly admit sin, and you will be exalted by our gracious God.

My mother told some funny stories of pomposity when she was young. She loved nuns, and her own aunt and namesake, a brilliant Dominican sister, was both an artist and historian. She also knew a few who let their pomposity get the better of them. One stood in a rowboat on the Hudson River and told all the girls who were already sitting to “Sit down.” My mother made sure we knew that all the girls were already sitting; she stressed how sister stood while scolding, “Sit.” That alone is funny to me but this story gets funnier. Picture the standing, scolding nun falling overboard in full sail, white gown and black veil filling with wind and water as poor Sister’s feet went higher than her head whose nose barely stayed above water.

Our comeuppance for being full of ourselves may not be as wet as scolding sister’s and may not even happen in this world but we will sink if we bully people or sing our own praises. We’ll be better off if we tell God and one another how sorry we are for the good we have not done.

Deni Mack, D.Min.
Pastoral Associate