Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 26, 2025
Sir. 35:12-14, 16-18; 2 Tim. 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14
How do we evaluate the quality of our lives? Is it through our comparison with others and a sense of self- righteousness, or is it through the willingness to accept who we are with honesty and transparency, embracing both our strengths and limitations, knowing we are loved by a merciful and compassionate God?
The readings from this week’s liturgy speak to this theme. The Book of Sirach invites us to reflect on the true justice of God. God listens to the authentic cry of one in need, and is not influenced by money, status, or hidden agendas. God seeks integrity of life and not pretense. God defends the cause of the poor with compassion and mercy. We are reminded that the prayer of the one who serves God with a whole heart will be accepted.
In his letter to the Thessalonians, Saint Paul, in the evening of his life, reflects with deep gratitude on a life fully lived, with a wholeness of heart. His life’s work was his witness to the Gospel of the Risen Christ. Amidst trials and difficulties, he lived what he preached, through his faith, love, patience and peacefulness. Through his struggles and experiences of abandonment, Paul came to know the power of Christ in his weakness. “I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10)
The Gospel of Saint Luke reveals the gift of this journey to inner truth. The tax collector knew himself and knew the love and mercy of God. Through his prayer, he was in deep communion with God. His exaltation was his inner freedom. “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)
These readings came to life for me, as I remembered an encounter, which I had several years ago. Caring for my dad during the last years of his life, I was surprised by an invitation to join a diocesan team dedicated to prison ministry in a local correction facility.
Have you ever entered a prison? It initially can be very daunting and disorienting as you are passed through security and enter a space with iron doors clanging behind you. It was here that I encountered a very frightened young man, 19 years of age, who was recently sentenced to 12 years in prison for gang affiliation and drug trafficking. Although our initial encounter was brief, I promised to visit him on a monthly basis.
As we grew in relationship, he revealed his vulnerability, sharing an early childhood of poverty; the rejection of an alcoholic father; and helplessness at ongoing physical abuse. Filled with repressed anger and despair for his plight, he left home at an early age, where he encountered other young men who, like himself, projected their anger in violence toward others. As he gradually shared his story and cried out to God for assistance, a greater inner clarity began to surface. Not only could he understand the self-rejection and repressed anger, which grew out of a life of abuse, but he could also gradually admit how this anger, projected on others, had caused extreme harm.
Like the tax collector in the Gospel of Saint Luke, he was able to experience the merciful and compassionate love of God as he would both forgive his father and ask forgiveness for himself. Now with a new vision and a deep trust in God, he made the decision to request dismissal from gang membership and all gang activity.
After 12 years of suffering this young man left prison transformed. He was not only released into society, but he was now rooted in a deep faith in God; self-knowledge; compassion for himself and others; and a wisdom to make new choices. Through the grace of God, he came to know the Truth and it was this inner Truth that made him free.
Maryknoll Sister Maureen Hanahoe, originally from Rosedale, New York, entered the congregation in 1962. She served in Chile and Peru in health care ministries and pastoral care, during her most recent assignment working on a team that both provided chaplaincy services and trained local leaders in accompaniment. She currently lives at the Maryknoll Sisters Center in New York, where she offers spiritual direction.
To read other Scripture reflections published by the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, click here.
Featured image: A person surrounded by nature kneels in prayerful contemplation. (Pexels/Pixabay)
