30C22.    Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18.   The Lord is “not unduly partial toward the weak,” the oppressed, the orphan, the widow, “the one who serves God,” and the lowly.  Nevertheless, He will not delay in responding to their prayer.

Luke 18:9-14.  The Lord makes a point in this parable of dealing with those who “were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.”  The Pharisee “took up his position” in a both physical and spiritual sense and thanked God that he made himself better than “the rest of humanity” by his observance of the Law or Torah.  In Luke 6:36-37ab, Jesus said, “Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful.  Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.” It belongs to God alone to the Judge.  We are made righteous or justified by the grace of God and our cooperation with that grace, not by the force of own actions alone without God, because we know the rules and follow them.  Secondly, we must live and breathe in union with our God who is loving and merciful.  Thoughts and feelings of being superior to others only serves to rob us of the prayers we ought to be making instead that all live in the grace of God.

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18.  “Beloved: I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand.”  Paul feels totally drained of life.  He feels that he has given everything he has and that there is nothing left.  “From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance.” Paul is so much ‘at home’ with God his loving Father that he feels totally confident in God’s closeness to him that he Paul will be in heaven along with the many others who are like him.  Paul remembers that when he was alone in dire circumstances, the Lord stood by him.   So Paul writes, “I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.  The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.  To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.”    There is a time for fear when we realize we have been going along without God.  There is a time for confidence when we know that we have been living in union with our loving God.