This Sermon is prepared by
Rev.Fr.Peter Jayakanthan sss
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi Catholic Church,
Houston, Texas, US
30th Sunday of Ordinary YearPrayer…of the heart: Humility Prayer…of the mind: PrideSir35:12-14, 16-18 IITm4:6-8, 16-18 Lk 18:9-14Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus, We shall welcome one another as we enter into the house of prayer and the house of the Bread of Life. We make our personal prayer and express community prayer during our liturgical celebration. We are called to examine the origin of our prayer. What is our attitude while praying? Who is our focus in our prayer? And how do we feel at the completion of our prayer? The readings of this Sunday invite us to examine these things and to make the necessary changes to witness through our meaningful and faithful prayer life.Sleep disorders have become a common medical condition, as many of us fall into this category due to lot of stress and anxiety. The struggle these days seems to be to prove oneself, to update oneself and to remain power-centered. The two common questions we raise are, why I am being affected and not others, and when will I be rewarded with favor? The Pope who was known for giving a bold start to changes, Pope St. John XXIII, prayed this prayer at the end of his day: "It's your Church, Lord. I'm going to bed." It illustrates how he was humble enough to surrender to the Lord, keeping Him as his focus. This is prayer from the heart and it paved many changes in him and the changes he dreamed of for Vatican II. Our last two Sunday’s liturgies challenged us to pray unceasingly until His time and will to answer us. Today we are instructed to pray humbly, keeping God as the center of our prayer. This prayer is from the heart. Luke proceeds to offer the teachings of Jesus on the proper attitude while praying. Jesus was questioning the self-righteous spiritual models of the society, the Pharisees. They followed the law with pride, expressed it boastfully. They prayed three times (9 am, 12 noon and 3 pm) daily. They voiced their activity list in order to be known to others. The comparison of the Pharisee with the tax collector shows how selfish and self-centered they were. He was glorifying how good he was, he did not want to reveal how vulnerable he was. There was no change in him at all. On the other hand, the tax collector, who was treated as a traitor as he collected taxes from his brotherly community for the Romans - his Prayer was from the heart and God was the center of his prayer. Jesus assures and justifies that he went home peacefully. The parable, however, shows that both men were sinners. The difference was that the tax collector realized and revealed it in the presence of the Lord that he was, but the Pharisee glorified himself, comparing himself with tax-collector. He covered his real self; his vulnerability. Luke tells us the tax collector went home with fulfillment and joy because his prayer reached the Lord. We see how his prayer brought a change in him. But the Pharisee’s prayer did not. In the first reading, the author of the Book of Sirach of B.C. 175 addresses the Greek-speaking Jews who were in diaspora. Pagans were majority in that society, so the Jews were worried whether or not their worship was being influenced by pagan worship and culture or if their practices were pleasing to Yahweh. The author tells them in this 35th Chapter, referencing their faithfulness to the commandments, worship and celebrations, instructs them not to offer sacrifices to show their wealth and status which would not affect any change in them. Rather they were to reveal their fragility, weakness and struggle. This self-revelatory prayer would reach the Lord and they would find fulfillment. It is affirmed in these words from the reading: The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds, and he will not be consoled until it reaches the Lord.” Prayer is not the moment to show how good I am. God knows me! Rather, prayer is to reveal how vulnerable I am. Then I will experience a change in me. This prayer pleases and reaches God. St. Jerome was the great 5th century Biblical scholar. He was well versed in Greek, Hebrew and Latin, and so contributed the translation of Sacred Scripture to Greek and Latin. St. Jerome went to Bethlehem toward the end of his life, where he lived in the cave believed to have been the birthplace of Christ. Once while praying in the cave of Jesus’s birth spot, he felt overwhelmed with the need to offer something worthwhile to God. He prayed, “Lord, I offer my knowledge, my contribution through writing and my translation work of the scripture, and my life, too.” Then the voice of the Lord responded, “Jerome it was I who gave life, knowledge, ability and skill; it is not yours to give. Why don’t you give me your sins, struggle and moments of vulnerability, I will give mercy and fulfillment of joy.” From the diary of St. Faustina we read her conversation with God in prayer, in diary no 631. God tells her, “You will give me pleasure if you hand over to me all your troubles and griefs. I shall heap upon you the treasures of my grace.” The eminent biblical scholar, Raymond E. Brown, once said in a homily that “if no change occurs as a result of prayer, then one has not really prayed.” St. Peter writes, “God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble ... so humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you.” (1 Pt 5:6-7) Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), the Danish philosopher and author who described faith as a “leap” whereby the believer goes beyond reason to embrace the paradox of God, also wrote, “Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.” St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata said, “I thought prayer changes things, I realized that prayer changes the person and the person changes things.” Let our prayer reach God and bring change in us, as we reveal our fragile selves in prayer and experience fulfillment. May the Lord continue to give us peace – Amen. 
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