HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT YEAR B (1)

HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT YEAR B

HOMILY THEME: DIVINE JUSTIFICATION

BY: Fr. Benny Tuazon

HOMILY:

(Lk. 18:9-14)
Saturday of the Third Week of Lent (Day 25 of Lent)

In the day’s Gospel Jesus tells the story of the humbled tax collector and the arrogant Pharisee. Jesus depicted the contrast well. The arrogant Pharisee was described as taking a vantage position in the temple, praising himself, accusing others, and boasted of his fasting and tithes. The tax collector, on the other hand, stood off at a distance, would not even raise his eyes to heaven, beat his breast, and prayed accusing himself rather than anyone else! Of the two, Jesus said that the tax collector went home justified.

I have encountered a lot of people who would rather blame others than themselves. They claim to be repenting yet they do not want to take responsibility for their actions. Others would justify themselves by thinking and believing that they are better than others. That their sins are less compared to others. They end up feeling good when in fact they should feel guilty and seek conversion.

God does not want us to repent on something we did not do. He would not be fair that way. When we go to Him,it would be best to humble ourselves. Yes, we try to be good but we have our failures. We should be ashamed for all those failures. We should express our need to be healed by Him. Justifying our sins by the goods that we have done or the worse other people had committed will not bring us divine justification. Plain humility and repentance is needed and should be enough.