Monsignor Enrique Díaz Díaz shares with Exaudi readers his reflection on the  Gospel of this Sunday, October 26, 2025, entitled:  “A contrite heart, Lord, you will not despise.”

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Ecclesiasticus 35:15-17, 20-22: “The prayer of the humble reaches to heaven”

Psalm 33: “The Lord is not far from those who fear him”

II Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18: “Now I wait only for the crown I deserve”

Luke 18:9-14: “The tax collector went home justified, but the Pharisee did not”

Story or reality? The parable Jesus proposes to us today has the appearance not of an invented event, but rather the narration of something that frequently happens not only in places of worship or prayer, but in every sphere of daily life. The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector contrasts two spiritual attitudes, two ways of praying, two ways of believing and relating to God and others, two ways of living and facing life. The first is that of one who feels fulfilled, self-satisfied; the second is that of one who humbly opens himself to the great goodness of God, to his infinite mercy. In his example, Jesus does not compare a sinner with a righteous person, but rather a humble and repentant sinner with a righteous person, satisfied with himself and looking down on others.

Could this be a reality in our times? It might seem that this parable has nothing to do with current events, but it is painfully relevant to many of us. Believing ourselves to be righteous, we rely on our religion and our positions to look down on others, despise them, judge them, and condemn them. Many of today’s conflicts, both locally and globally, are nothing more than the arrogance of those who feel they own the world, who use God and religion to satisfy themselves and take advantage of others. There are those who pay up to the last candle in the worship of the Lord, but have no qualms about “legally” dispossessing the poor of their lands, their water, and their homes, and they don’t feel like thieves! There are those who intoxicate our people with their liquor and their lies and then condemn them for being drunkards and lazy, yet, in turn, they feel very dignified.

The self-satisfied Pharisee makes his entire presentation, but always says what he is not! “I am not like other men: thieves, unjust, and adulterers; neither am I like this tax collector.” He knows very well what he is not, but he doesn’t know what he is, nor what is inside him, because when he tries to present himself, he says, “I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all my earnings,” as if his entire value depended on money or what he doesn’t eat. But who is he really? Jesus comes to overturn the order established by the Jewish system, and if we look at things carefully, he also comes to overturn our entire system. What matters is not what is external, but what is really inside. It would seem that modern man is full of materialism, comparisons, disqualifications, and fierce competition with others. That a person is worth only what he has. He fills himself with everything and leaves no room to experience God’s great love within himself. The sin of the Pharisee and of our world is to reduce everything to commerce, vanity, and pride, leaving no room for God or neighbor.

This Sunday’s first reading teaches us that God does not enter this world of commercialization and exchange. If God has a predilection for anyone, it is for the poor and humble. “The Lord is a judge who is not impressed by appearances. He does not despise anyone for being poor, and he listens to the pleas of the oppressed. He does not ignore the anguished cry of the orphan or the persistent complaint of the widow.” How we wish this were true today too! May judges, may they not be impressed by appearances, may they not despise anyone, may they hear the pleas of a people who are dying of hunger, who cannot overcome the extreme limits of poverty, and who do not know to whom to cry for justice.

And we must be very clear: it’s not that Jesus agrees with sin. The publicans, or as some translate it, the tax collectors, were considered traitors by the people and rejected because they lived off the people’s suffering. Jesus doesn’t agree with injustice, but when he finds conversion, when he discovers a willing heart, he grants salvation. That’s why he ends his story by saying: “Very truly, I say to you, this one goes down to his house justified, and that one will not; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Only those who are empty of themselves can be filled with God. Only those who have space in their hearts can welcome their brothers and sisters.

Jesus’ parable leads us to seriously examine our attitude. Behind the two figures, we can discover the opposition between two types of justice: that of the man who believes he is capable of achieving it by fulfilling the externality of the law; or the justification that God grants to the sinner who recognizes himself as such, humbly accepts his sin, and converts. Neither brother nor God can enter a closed heart, filled with pride.

Therefore, in their prayer, parodying the publican, Mazariegos and Botana exclaimed: Lord, I feel lost. You say it’s useless for me to get up early, that it’s useless for me to go to bed late, that it’s useless for me to eat the bread of toil. You say: You give it to your friends while they sleep! I want to be your friend and demand nothing from you. I want to be your friend and live off your gratuitousness. I want to be your friend and accept your salvation. I want to be your friend and allow myself to be loved by you. Your gifts, Lord, are the richness of my heart. Your grace in me is your life without end… O God, God of the free. God of the poor, from whom, from their clay, seeks all of your grace. Amen.