27th October 2013: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Luke Ch. 18: 9 – 14

The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Both characters are important The Parable: Both characters are important

The Pharisees were the keepers of the holy Law.

Jewish society as thieves. Tax collectors were Jews who worked for Rome. They were despised by the Jewish society as thieves.

This parable contrasts two very different types of prayer.

a) The Pharisee approaches God seeking the reward he feels he deserves. b) The Pharisee … I am, I do, I… and he merits God’s grace.

a) A tax collector, on the other hand, seeing his nothingness before God. He asks God for mercy

because he does not desrve what God gives him, as he is a sinner.

It is the prayer of the humble, of the sinner; this would be our prayer because we are all sinners.

We do not deserve, we are poor sinners; God gives us because He loves us even though we are sinners.