It is love that I desire, not sacrifice.

To those who were convinced of their own righteousness

and despised everyone else.

Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,

and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Hosea 6:1-6

Come, let us return to the Lord.

He who shattered us to pieces will heal us as well; he has struck us down, but he will bind up our wounds.

Two days later he will bring us back to life; on the third day, he will raise us up, and we shall live in his presence.

Let us strive to know the Lord. His coming is as certain as the dawn; his judgment will burst forth like the light; he will come to us as showers come, like spring rain that waters the earth.

 

O Ephraim, what shall I do with you? O Judah, how shall I deal with you? This love of yours is like morning mist, like morning dew that quickly disappears.

This is why I smote you through the prophets, and have slain you by the words of my mouth.

For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice; it is knowledge of God, not burnt offerings.

 

Ps 51:3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊       Luke 18:9-14

Jesus told another parable to some people, fully convinced of their own righteousness,

who looked down on others: "Two men went up to the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee stood by himself and said, 'I thank you, God, that I am not like other people, grasping, crooked, adulterous, or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all my income to the temple!'

In the meantime, the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'O God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'

I tell you, when this man went back to his house, he had been reconciled with God, but not the other.

For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised up."

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"Let us strive to know the Lord."

Saint Augustine said that to know oneself, one has to know God and vice versa. In other words,

we only understand ourselves fully in relation to God, and when we break that relationship,

we cease to understand ourselves and what our lives are all about. And so God says,

"it is love that I desire, not sacrifice; it is knowledge of God, not burnt offerings."

God wants to be known and loved so that he can bless us and help us to grow.

 

Religious practice without that love or desire to know the Lord is empty and brings no growth,

neither in ourselves as human beings, nor in our relationship with God.

This is why the Pharisee goes home unaffected by his prayer, while the tax collector, in his honest repentance,

goes home reconciled with God. The Pharisee, though praying, is focused on himself.

 

It's a self-love which has closed in on itself. In contrast, the tax collector is focused on God,

whom he knows to be merciful, just as he knows himself to be a sinner. So,

"let us strive to know the Lord" so that we can receive his life-giving mercy,

"like spring rain that waters the earth."