Reflections of Caritas

GOSPEL: Luke 18:9-14

BE HUMBLE!

Dear friends,

In contrasting the prayer of the Pharisee with the prayer of the tax collector in the parable, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray in humility before God. Jesus surprises his listeners by showing the tax collector as the example of faith, rather than the Pharisee. Remember that Pharisees were members of a sect of Judaism active in Jesus' time. If anyone would be a model for prayer, a Pharisee was a likely candidate. In contrast, Jesus offers the tax collector as a model for prayer. This parable reminds us that when we pray, we must remember our need for God in our lives. If we are too full of ourselves, there is too little room for God's grace to work in us. A good life, like a good prayer, comes from emptying ourselves of ourselves to let God in.

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GOSPEL: Luke 18:1-8

PERSIST IN YOUR PRAYER!

Dear friends,

Our readings reveal to us the absolute necessity of praying always without becoming weary. Most of us are not at that stage of life yet! The first reading, from Exodus 17:8-13, tells about Moses holding his hands in prayer. When he became weary, the others helped him keeps his hands up in prayers. This story touches so many aspects of our own lives. We also become weary in praying. Sometimes we don’t even want to pray at all. Sometimes our whole being has lost interest in prayer. We need others to help us keep on praying. Sometimes we lose interest in praying because nothing seems to happen. We pray and God seems silent. We pray and God seems to ignore us. And so we stop praying! That is natural enough. We just don’t do things that have no result. We need others to encourage us and to help us.

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GOSPEL: Luke 17:11-19

GIVE THANKS TO GOD!

Dear friends,

In the gospel text today we hear about how Jesus, continuing on his journey to Jerusalem, heals 10 lepers. The Ten people afflicted with leprosy cry out to Jesus. Struck with pity, Jesus heals all ten. However, only one is described as glorifying God and returning to thank Jesus. The one who returns is a Samaritan; a foreigner. In the Jewish circles in which Jesus lived, Samaritans were looked down upon because of the differences between the two communities in their observance of Judaism. It is significant, therefore, that Jesus commends the Samaritan for his faith.

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GOSPEL: LUKE 17:5-10

LIVE BY FAITH!

Dear friends,

The word of God invites us to reflect on one of the most important Christian and theological virtues – Faith. It is the foundation of our Christian life. Faith gives us a new vision and version of life. Jesus had just warned his disciples not to become stumbling blocks to others and enjoined them to forgive as often as an offender repents even if it is seven times in one day. That will be difficult. It will be a challenge to live that way. “Increase our faith,” is their response.

Jesus is very clear that faithfulness is not about size or quantity. “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed,” he says, “you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

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