🌿 Saturday, March 14, 2026
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

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Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent • Year A • Beads of Joy Blog II

✝️ Today's Mass Readings

First Reading: Hosea 6:1-6

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-4, 18-19, 20-21

Gospel: Luke 18:9-14

📖 The Gospel - Luke 18:9-14

Two men go up to the temple to pray. The Pharisee stands and lists his accomplishments before God, I fast twice a week, I pay tithes of everything I own, I am not like that tax collector. The tax collector stands far off, won't even raise his eyes to heaven, and beats his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Jesus says the tax collector went home justified. Not the other one.

🙏 Gospel Reflection

This parable should make every person who prays regularly and lives a disciplined faith life a little uncomfortable. Because the Pharisee is not making things up. He really does fast twice a week. He really does tithe. He really is not a thief or an adulterer. He has a legitimate spiritual resumé. And yet something has gone catastrophically wrong, his prayer has become a mirror rather than a window. He came to the temple not to encounter God but to be seen by God. And without realizing it, the encounter he is describing is entirely all about himself.

Hosea says it perfectly today, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Steadfast love not burnt offerings. God is not uninterested in our fasting, our tithing, our rosaries, our Lenten disciplines. But when those things become the point rather than the path, when they become sources of comparison or pride rather than sources of encounter, they have missed the entire purpose.

The tax collector's prayer is one of the most perfect prayers in all of Scripture. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Seven words, with no resumé, and no comparison, and no list of all his achievements. Just a man who knows exactly where he stands and throws himself completely on the only thing that can help him, God's mercy. And Jesus says, that is the prayer that goes home justified.

Here is the beautiful thing. It's nice to be an example for many but we can't use that example as a pat on the back talking about what you have done; and your life is one thing you love bragging about, and that is not good. Our example of not always taking the lead and always giving credit where credit is due is the respectful way to be humble. Humility is the key point in our journey to the Lord. And here's something I've always said throughout the years, humility is the currency of heaven.

💭 Reflection Question

Bring your most recent prayer to mind, was it more like the Pharisee's or the tax collector's? What would it look like today to stand a little further back, lower your eyes, and simply say, God, be merciful to me?

📿 Today's Rosary - The Sorrowful Mysteries

Today's Focus Mystery: The Agony in the Garden

In Gethsemane, Jesus prayed the tax collector's prayer in its ultimate form, Father, not my will but Yours. No resumé, no bargaining, and no list of accomplishments to lay before the Father. Just complete surrender and complete trust in God’s Mercy. As you pray your Rosary today, let every Hail Mary be a tax collector's prayer, humble, honest, and utterly dependent on God’s Grace.

🌹 Our Lady of Fatima - Today's Connection

Our Lady of Fatima appeared not to the spiritually accomplished or the theologically trained but to three simple children who had nothing to offer except their willingness. Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta were the tax collectors of Fatima, far off, small, unimportant by the world's measure, and Our Lady chose them. Hosea says God desires steadfast love, not burnt offerings. Our Lady's choices at Fatima say the same thing. Come as you are, small, honest and needy. That is the prayer of humility.

🕊️ Closing Prayer

God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That is my whole prayer today. I bring no resumé, no list, no comparisons. Just me, standing far off, not worthy to raise my eyes, asking only for Your mercy. And trusting that is enough. Amen.



©2026 James Dacey, Jr., OFS

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Want to know more about My Spiritual Journey?
Read My Story: An Invitation To Read My Story - My Testimony

Location: Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA

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