19 January 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” Luke 18:13
On the second day of the fast the readings show what a true fast looks like. At Mizpah Samuel tells Israel: “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods”. The people draw water and pour it out before the LORD, fast all day and confess: “We have sinned against the LORD.” When the Philistines attack, they beg Samuel: “Do not cease to cry out to the LORD our God for us”, and Samuel prays, “and the LORD answered him.” Isaiah explains why prayer can seem unheard: “See, the LORD’s hand is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God”. Fasting is the work of taking those barriers down.
Then Jesus shows two men at prayer. The Pharisee is a serious religious man: “I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But he prays “standing by himself”, comparing himself with “this tax collector”. The tax collector stands far off and says only: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” It is he who goes home justified, “for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” Paul shows the fruit of such humility: we offer our bodies “as a living sacrifice”, we are “transformed by the renewing of your minds”, and we learn “not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think”, because “we, who are many, are one body in Christ”. A fast that makes us proud is the Pharisee's fast; a fast that makes us humble and one with others is the fast God accepts. In this Unity Octave, the tax collector's prayer is also the prayer of divided Christians.
Theme: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
The fast God accepts: a whole heart, walls taken down, a humble prayer.
“If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Astartes from among you. Direct your heart to the LORD, and serve him only,” 1 Samuel 7:3
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:8
Apply: Put away one idol during the fast.
“See, the LORD’s hand is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” Isaiah 59:1–2
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God” Romans 12:2
Apply: Examine your conscience tonight and name the barriers.
“The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:17
“I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:14
Apply: Pray the tax collector's prayer many times today.
Fasting takes down the walls our sins have built.
The fast God accepts is humble and unites us with others.
Take-home resolution: Do not speak of your fasting to anyone this week; speak only to God.
Dear friends, on this second day of the fast, the readings ask: what kind of fast pleases God? At Mizpah Samuel tells Israel: if you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, put away the foreign gods (1 Samuel 7:3). The people pour out water before the LORD, fast and confess: we have sinned against the LORD. Samuel prays for them, and the LORD answers.
Isaiah answers those who complain that God does not hear: the LORD's hand is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God (Isaiah 59:1–2). Fasting is the work of taking down those barriers, stone by stone.
Then Jesus tells of two men at prayer. The Pharisee fasts twice a week and gives a tenth of all his income. But his prayer is about himself, and he despises the tax collector. The tax collector stands far off, beats his breast and says: God, be merciful to me, a sinner (Luke 18:13). Jesus says this man went home justified.
Notice: the Pharisee fasted. Fasting is not the problem. Pride is the problem. Paul tells us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought, because we, who are many, are one body in Christ (Romans 12:3, 5). A fast that makes us look down on others has missed its goal.
In this Unity Octave, let us pray the tax collector's prayer for ourselves and for all Christians. God, be merciful to us, sinners, and make us one. Amen.
Children, one man said to God: I am so good! Another man said: God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Jesus liked the second prayer. Let us pray it today: Jesus, have mercy on me.
Lord God, your hand is not too short to save. Take away the barriers our sins have raised between us and you. Keep us from the pride that fasts and despises others; give us the heart of the tax collector, and transform us by the renewing of our minds, one body in Christ. God, be merciful to us, sinners. Amen.
On the second day of the fast the readings look honestly at sin and at the way back. Samuel gathers Israel at Mizpah, where they fast, say “We have sinned”, and find that a man's prayer stands between them and their fear. Isaiah says why God has seemed deaf: the fault is not in his ear, but in the barriers we have built. Paul then tells us what penance is for: to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, and to be made new from within. Jesus ends the day with two men in the Temple, and only the one who has nothing to offer goes home justified.
Setting.
The ark of the covenant has been captured by the Philistines and returned, and it has stayed for some twenty years at Kiriath-jearim while “all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord” (7:2). Samuel is the last of the judges and a prophet. He has been praying since he was a boy. Mizpah, in the hill country of Benjamin north of Jerusalem, was a place where Israel assembled.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Direct your heart to the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” (7:3)
The order matters. The people want rescue, and Samuel speaks first of the heart.
“So they gathered at Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They fasted that day, and said, “We have sinned against the Lord.”” (7:6)
This rite with water is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament, and its exact meaning is not certain. It may express grief, or a heart poured out (compare Lamentations 2:19). The confession is plain: one sentence, with no excuses.
“The people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, and pray that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”” (7:8)
Repentance has not removed the danger; it has come at the very moment they turn back. Now they know where to look.
“So Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord; Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him.” (7:9)
The lamb and the intercessor belong together. The Christian reader remembers Sunday's Gospel: the Lamb of God is also the one who intercedes for us (Hebrews 7:25).
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism describes how Samuel learned to pray from his mother Hannah and from Eli, and how he later came to know the cost of intercession: “far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you” (CCC 2578, quoting 1 Samuel 12:23). It teaches that interior conversion is expressed in visible signs, such as fasting and prayer (CCC 1430, 1434).
Setting.
Many scholars place these chapters after the return from exile. The people have come home, but the great promises seem not to have come true. Fasting has not brought an answer (58:3). The prophet replies that God's arm is not the problem. After this indictment, the chapter moves on to a confession in the people's own voice (59:9–15) and the promise that a Redeemer will come to Zion (59:20).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“See, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.” (59:1)
This answers the question that prayer so often raises: why is nothing happening? The fault is not on God's side.
“Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” (59:2)
The prophet is speaking to his own community, and so the words are for us: he is not pointing at outsiders. God has not walked away. The barrier is ours, and it can come down.
“They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web;” (59:5)
Evil plans are compared to eggs that bring forth death and to webs that cannot be worn. All that busy work of sin makes nothing that can clothe anyone (59:6).
“The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths.” (59:8)
St Paul quotes vv. 7–8 in Romans 3:15–17, as part of his description of a humanity that needs grace, Jew and Gentile alike.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that sin is before all else an offence against God and a rupture of communion with him, and that it damages communion with the Church (CCC 1440). The sacrament of Reconciliation is where the barrier comes down: “Be reconciled to God” (CCC 1442). Paul's use of this passage leads straight to the good news that we are justified by grace (Romans 3:24).
Setting.
After eleven chapters on what God has done, Paul turns to how we are to live. “Therefore” in v. 1 holds the letter together: Christian conduct is an answer to the mercies of God already received. Chapters 12–15 are the moral part of the letter. The Roman community, with Jewish and Gentile members, had to learn to live as one body.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (12:1)
The animals in the Temple died when they were offered. This sacrifice stays alive and goes on offering itself every day. The body, not only the soul, belongs in worship, and this is what our fasting says.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God” (12:2)
There is a pressure from outside and a change from inside. The result is discernment: knowing what God wants, in a concrete situation.
“so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” (12:5)
The last phrase goes further than saying that we all belong to Christ. We belong to each other.
“the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.” (12:8)
Mercy given with a long face is not quite mercy. This last word fits the fast well, for it is to be done without gloom (Matthew 6:16).
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that the moral life is spiritual worship, citing this verse (CCC 2031), and that by prayer we can discern what is the will of God (CCC 2826). The gifts of the Spirit are for building up the Church (CCC 799–801). St John Chrysostom, preaching on this passage, asks how the body can be a sacrifice, and answers: let the eye look on nothing evil and it is a sacrifice; let the tongue speak nothing shameful and it is an offering; let the hand do no wrong and it is a whole burnt offering (in substance; Homily 20 on Romans).
Setting.
Luke tells us the purpose before the story: it is for those “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt”. This is a warning for anyone, the Christian reader first of all. The Pharisees were respected laymen, devoted to living the Law in daily life, and the first hearers would have expected this man to be the model of prayer. Tax collectors worked for the occupying power and were commonly despised as dishonest.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” (18:11)
Standing to pray was usual. He does thank God, as good prayer should, but he is not asking for anything. “I” is the subject of nearly every sentence. He sees no need of mercy, and so he asks for none.
“I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” (18:12)
The Law required fasting only on the Day of Atonement. He does far more than is asked, and these things are good. In a week of fasting, we should notice this: it is possible to fast and yet to go home unchanged.
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” (18:13)
No list, no comparison, and no promises. The Greek has “the sinner”, as if he were the only one. He stays far off, and yet he is the one who gets close.
“I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” (18:14)
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that this parable concerns the humility of the praying heart, and that the Church continues to make the tax collector's prayer her own: “Kyrie eleison!” (CCC 2613; compare 2559). This prayer is at the root of the Jesus Prayer of the Eastern Churches (CCC 2667). The Catechism also reminds us that many Pharisees were close to Jesus and that some of them warned him of danger (CCC 575). St Augustine, preaching on this text, says that the Pharisee came to the doctor and showed only his healthy limbs, while the tax collector showed his wounds (in substance).
Does the parable mean that fasting and tithing are worthless?
No. Jesus himself expects his disciples to fast and to give (Matthew 6:3, 16). The Pharisee's fault is not his fasting but his contempt. The fast has value when it makes us humble and merciful.
Is this parable an attack on the Jewish people or on Judaism?
No. Both men are Jews, praying in the Temple, and the Temple is the place where God's mercy is sought and given. Pharisees are not a symbol of a bad religion. The warning is meant for the Church's own members (CCC 575, 597).
What does “a living sacrifice” mean for ordinary people?
The farmer's work, the mother's sleepless night, the patient's pain and the honesty of a clerk can all be offered. At the Holy Qurbana these are joined to the one sacrifice of Christ (CCC 901, 1368).
On this middle day of Moonnu Nombu, the tax collector's prayer fits the Church's mood well. Our Qurbana is full of the cry for mercy. If you can, make a good confession during these days. Let the fast of the body be matched by what Paul asks: a mind being renewed, a place taken in the body of Christ, and gifts used with cheerfulness. It is good to remember in prayer those who cannot fast because of sickness, and to help those for whom hunger is not a choice.