26 October 2025 (Sunday) / 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time / Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

26 October 2025 (Sunday)

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Sirach 35: 12-14, 16-18
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 34: 2-3, 17-18, 19, 23
Second Reading: Second Timothy 4: 6-8, 16-18
Alleluia: Matthew 11: 25
Gospel: Luke 18: 9-14

First Reading : Ecclesiasticus 35:12‐14, 16‐19

The Lord is a judge who is no respecter of personages. He shows no respect of personages to the detriment of a poor man, he listens to the plea of the injured party. He does not ignore the orphan’s supplication, nor the widow’s as she pours out her story. The man who with his whole heart serves God will be accepted, his petitions will carry to the clouds. The humble man’s prayer pierces the clouds, until it arrives he is inconsolable, nor will he desist until the Most High takes notice of him, acquits the virtuous and delivers judgement. And the Lord will not be slow, nor will he be dilatory on their behalf.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 33(34):2‐3,17‐19,23

This poor man called; the Lord has heard him.

I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise always on my lips; in the Lord my soul shall make its boast. The humble shall hear and be glad.

This poor man called; the Lord has heard him.

The Lord turns his face against the wicked to destroy their remembrance from the earth. The just call and the Lord hears and rescues them in all their distress.

This poor man called; the Lord has heard him.

The Lord is close to the broken‐hearted; those whose spirit is crushed he will save. The Lord ransoms the souls of his servants. Those who hide in him shall not be condemned.

This poor man called; the Lord has heard him.

Second Reading : 2 Timothy 4:6‐8,16‐18

My life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to be gone. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith; all there is to come now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longed for his Appearing. The first time I had to present my defence, there was not a single witness to support me. Every one of them deserted me – may they not be held accountable for it. But the Lord stood by me and gave me power, so that through me the whole message might be proclaimed for all the pagans to hear; and so I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from all evil attempts on me, and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Alleluia: Matthew 11: 25
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
25 Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to mere children.
(25. At that time Jesus exclaimed, 'I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children.
26. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do).
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel : Luke 18:9‐14

Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else: ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’

For our reflection today:

The Gospel of today’s Liturgy presents us a parable with two protagonists, a pharisee and a publican (cf. Lk  18:9-14), that is, a religious man and an avowed sinner. Both of them go up into the Temple to pray, but only the publican truly lifts himself up to God, because he humbly descends within his true self  and presents himself as he is, without a mask, with his own poverty. We could say, then, that the parable lies between two movements, expressed by two verbs: to ascend  and to descend.

The first movement is to ascend. Indeed, the text begins by saying: “Two people went up into the temple to pray” (v. 10). This aspect recalls many episodes in the Bible, where in order to encounter the Lord, one goes up to the mountain of his presence: Abraham goes up on the mountain to offer the sacrifice; Moses goes up Mount Sinai to receive the Commandments; Jesus goes up the mountain where he is transfigured. To “go up”, therefore, expresses the heart’s need to detach itself from a dull life in order to go towards the Lord; to lift oneself up from the plateaus of our ego, to ascend towards God, freeing oneself of one’s own “I”; to gather what we live in the valley, so as to bring it before the Lord. This is “ascending”, and when we pray, we ascend.

But in order to live the encounter with him and be transformed by prayer, to rise up to God, a second movement is necessary: to descend. Why? What does this mean? In order to ascend towards him, we must descend within ourselves: to cultivate the sincerity and humility of the heart that give us an honest outlook on our frailties and our inner poverty. Indeed, in humility, we become capable of bringing what we really are to God without pretence: the limitations, the wounds, the sins and the miseries that weigh down our hearts, and  [capable] of invoking his mercy so that he may restore us, heal us, and raise us up. It will be he who raises us up, not us. The more we descend with humility, the more God raises us up.
Indeed, the publican in the parable humbly stops at a distance (cf. v. 13) — he does not come close, he is ashamed — he asks for forgiveness, and the Lord  raises him up. Instead, the Pharisee exalts himself, self-assured, convinced that he is fine: standing up, he begins to speak with the Lord only of himself, praising himself, listing all the good religious works he does, and disdaining others: “I am not like that person there…”. Because this is what spiritual arrogance does. “But father, why are you talking to us about spiritual arrogance?” Because we all run the risk of falling into this trap. It leads you to believe that one is righteous and to judge others. This is spiritual arrogance: “I am fine, I am better than the others: this person does this, that one does that…”. And in this way, without realizing it, you adore your own ego and obliterate your God. It revolves around oneself. This is prayer without humility.

Brothers, sisters, the Pharisee and the publican concern us closely. When we think of them, let us look at ourselves: let us confirm whether, in us, as in the Pharisee, there is the intimate presumption of being righteous (cf. v. 9) that leads us to despise others. It happens, for instance, when we seek compliments and always make a list of our own merits and good works, when we concern ourselves with how we appear rather than how we are, when we let ourselves be trapped by narcissism and exhibitionism. Let us beware of narcissism and exhibitionism, based on vainglory, that lead even us Christians, priests and bishops, always to have one word on our lips. Which word? “I”: “I did this, I wrote that, I said it, I understood it before you”, and so on. Where there is too much “I”, there is too little God. In my country, we call these people: “me, myself and I”, this is the name of those people. Once the people used to talk about a priest who was like that, self-centred, and they, jokingly, used to say, “When he incenses, he does it backwards, he incenses himself”. It is like that; it even makes you seem ridiculous.

Let us ask the intercession of Mary Most Holy, the humble servant of the Lord, the living image of what the Lord loves to accomplish, overthrowing the powerful from their thrones and raising the humble (cf. Lk 1:52) (Pope Francis, Angelus, 23 October 2022).

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed  and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)