1. --
Lanie LeBlanc OP
2. --
Carol & Dennis Keller
3. --
Brian Gleeson CP
4. --
5. --(Your
reflection can be here!)
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Sun .31 C 2019
The reading selections for this Sunday give us great
hope. From the Book of Wisdom we learn this about God: " you
overlook people's sins that they may repent." In our Gospel,
Jesus chooses to "stay at the house of a sinner", Zaccheus.
I think that when God "overlooks" our sins, God looks
them over, not to ignore them, but rather to put them into a
better perspective than we do. Each of us does have God's
"imperishable spirit" within us, so God knows our goodness
even if we falter. Our God gives us many, many chances to
repent!
Jesus confirms this basic goodness by addressing
Zacchaeus and inviting himself to his house. Talk about
being counter-cultural, then and even now! Jesus's words
ring clear and to the heart: " For the Son of Man has come
to seek and to save what was lost." (Maybe when we hit
"save" on the computer, we should remember those words!!)
What is it that you have lost in your journey with the
Lord? Have you become totally lost yourself or really
confused about something? Do you just need a "partial
rescue" mission, maybe about forgiving others, your prayer
life or your attitude toward those who are different or how
you interact with and help the less fortunate?
No matter our physical stature or status among others or
how we feel about ourselves, Jesus will seek us out to be in
our company. "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to
save what was lost." Lord, may our hearts be full of
gratitude as we pour out to You whatever it is that we need
you to rescue and restore!
Blessings,
Dr. Lanie
LeBlanc OP
Southern
Dominican Laity
lanie@leblanc.one
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Thirty First Sunday of Ordered Time November 3,
2019
Wisdom 11:22-12:2; Responsorial Psalm 145; 2nd
Thessalonians 1:11 -2:2; Gospel Acclamation John 3:16; Luke
19:1-10
The story of Zacchaeus brings a smile to most of us. He
was a little guy whose business efforts and successes made
up for his shortness of stature. As such he must have been
proud of his successes and stature in the community. Yet the
rumors about this preacher, this healer Jesus caused him to
ignore his stature and climb a tree. He was literally up a
tree not to escape a predator as to get a glimpse of a
famous person.
But the reading from Wisdom sets the scene for the
message this week. Recall that last week was a warning to us
that the mere following of rules and rituals did not justify
a person. Justification requires a real relationship with
God. And that relationship requires us to recognize that God
is God. The Pharisee, if we remember last week, was all
about himself. His pride in his will power and rational
ability to discern how to live according to the law made him
central to his search for God. He found god by looking into
a mirror and admiring and worshipping what he saw there.
The reading from Wisdom this week is overflowing with the
wonder and magnificence of creation. Yet, the first verse
speaks to us of how very small the sum total of creation in
comparison with God is. The author tells us before God all
creation is only like a small grain of sand in the scales
that measure true value. Creation is merely a drop of
precious dew when held up next to the Creator. We’d expect
the Wisdom writer to continue in this vein telling us of the
wonders of God’s presence. In face the author does so as
he/she writes about human sinfulness. God’s patience is such
that God overlooks, forgets about the evil humanity does
because God hopes that people will repent. For in the
dynamics of creation’s life it is God who best sees its
dignity, its worth, and its beauty. God spares all things
because all things, all living beings, all humanity belongs
to God and God loves each bit and parcel of his creation.
More than anything God loves all things because God’s
imperishable spirit is in all things.
What a terrific thought! What an even more life-changing
understanding! That God should love each one of us among the
billions upon billions of things, living beings, and other
humans is incomprehensible. God is so huge that all of
creation is but a grain of sand in a balance measuring
value. God is so pervasive that even a drop of dew is loved
for its wonder.
The Hubble Space Telescope and astral physics have
astounded us. The universe we thought was a fixed creation
is still expanding, growing with exponential speed. Space is
being created; galaxies with myriads of orbiting planets and
moons and newly created and dying stars come into being. The
Creator God isn’t finished, has not completed expressing who
and what God is. And yet – this is incomprehensible – this
God has attention to even the smallest among us. Bit by bit
he calls us, invites us to share in his wonder. It is for us
to abandon our wickedness and believe in the Lord.
When we think about the gospel reading this Sunday, we
see the message of the book of Wisdom applied to an
individual. This time it is Zacchaeus, a man short in
stature. He seems to have made up for his size by being a
very successful tax-collector. He is wealthy, he is wise in
the ways of the world. He has made lots of money and lives
in a mansion. But he is hated. One commentator states that
Zacchaeus climbed the sycamore tree just to be away from the
crowd. He was so hated that mingling with others would earn
him bruises and possibly broken limbs. He only wanted to see
this Jesus. It is written that when Jesus told him to come
down from his high perch – his position of pride – Zacchaeus
scrambled down the tree and received Jesus with joy.
Zacchaeus was welcomed into the community of those who
followed the way of Jesus. The message is this: when someone
is invited by Jesus to come down from their self-made
importance and status, their heart is filled with peace and
joy. It is no longer the way of the world that commands
activities and efforts. The continual struggle to succeed is
replaced by acceptance of God. Then comes the peace and a
victory over fear that resides in unsure hearts.
Among many lessons in these readings are two that are
relevant to our contemporary situations. The first is that
God loves all his creation. There is nothing that God
created, is creating, or will create in the future that he
loathes. Wisdom insists that God’s spirit is in all things.
Contemporary physics speaks of all physical reality –
including rocks, plants, living beings, humans, and all the
material reality of the universe – as bundles of energy.
Science explains the beginnings of materiality as a "big
bang." That explosion of a pinpoint of energy was so
concentrated it contained all that existed, exists now, or
will exist in the future. That includes each of us. Such
thoughts may allow us to imagine God the Creator as energy
itself. The problem with humans thinking about God is that
we are compelled to think of God in human terms. And
thinking of God as boundless, infinite energy may help us to
understand God’s relevance to us in our age.
A second thought we might gain from this Sunday’s
readings is an understanding that pride prevents us from
seeing God’s presence among us. But God’s unlimited love for
each grain of sand, each drop of dew, each person – great or
small -- is a constant call for us to depend on God’s love.
In relying on God’s love for us, we can let go of that
terrible un-winnable condition of thinking dignity and worth
are something we achieve by our competition in the world.
When we finally let go of believing that our worth and
dignity are created by what we do rather than what we are,
we’ll come to the valley of peace and delight. It might be
helpful to recall Jesus’ first words to the disciples
fearfully gathered in the upper room on that First Easter
Sunday. "Peace be with you." That was his greeting, that was
his gift to all humankind.
The universe is God’s creation and as such has his
fingerprints all over it. Moments we take to observe and
appreciate nature bring us into God’s presence. Moments we
take to appreciate and listen to other persons are
opportunities for God’s call to us to be heard.
We’re wrapping up this liturgical year. On Friday we
celebrated the grand festival of All Saints. The first
reading for that day is from the Book of Revelation. John,
the Mystic, sees a vast multitude in addition to the
forty-four thousand from each of the twelve tribes. In
addition to that multitude he sees the great plain filled
with an un-countable multitude from every nation, every
race, every people, and every tongue. I’ve wondered, as I
tried to vision this, how many of us would have trouble
being in such a multitude because there are in it people of
different races, of different languages, of different
nations, of different cultures, of varying genders. Will we
turn away from this gathering because there are people we
just can’t accept as being God’s creation? Will we continue
to believe ours is an exclusive club only for those who
think, act, or believe like us? Will the old heaven and the
old earth be used up by our greed and avarice so there is
nothing to carry forward?
Will that be a final awakening that demands that we
understand and believe what Wisdom tells us: that God’s
imperishable spirit is in all things?
Carol &
Dennis Keller
dkeller002@nc.rr.com
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ZACCHAEUS MEETS JESUS: 31ST SUNDAY C
Today (tonight) we find ourselves in the city of Jericho,
an oasis city in the Jordan valley, known as the 'City of
Palms'. We smell its famous balsam trees which perfume the
air for miles around. We gaze on its equally famous rose
gardens which attract so many visitors. In the middle of all
this beauty there occurs that deeply significant meeting
between Jesus and a little man called ‘Zacchaeus’.
Now Zacchaeus is a tax collector, indeed a chief tax
collector, for the occupying foreign power, the Romans. For
that very reason he is despised by his fellow Jews. For
making so much money at their expense through collaborating
in cheating and swindling them, he is loathed and hated like
no other person in town. Although Zacchaeus is now a wealthy
man, he is not a happy one. Lately he has become quite fed
up with being hated and despised by everyone, and with
feeling so lonely and lost. Lately he has started searching
for some turn-around in his life, some way to change his
occupation and his life-style.
When one day he hears the news that Jesus of Nazareth is
on a walkabout in the neighbourhood, and that he is actually
heading in his direction, he knows that he simply has to
meet this Jesus - to get the comfort and hope, the love and
forgiveness, the brand new start which he so desperately
needs.
But getting to meet Jesus is anything but easy. First
there is the risk of going into that crowd, many of whom
will surely take their chance to jostle, push, and even kick
him. When he does join the crowd he finds he cannot see over
the tall people hemming him in on every side. So he hits on
a brain-wave. He races ahead and climbs a tree, actually a
mulberry tree, with short trunk and wide branches. Just
right for a short, overweight person like him to look out
for Jesus!
He has not long to wait. To his surprise, Jesus looks up
from under the tree, smiles and says with a touch of humour
and presumption: 'Zacchaeus, get down. Hurry up. I've got to
stay at your house today.' Zacchaeus is bubbling with joy
and excitement as he walks his guest to his own home, and
welcomes him at the front door: 'It's just so marvellous to
meet you', Zacchaeus keeps saying over and over again, ‘I
just can’t believe my good fortune.’
Meanwhile the crowd that would willingly strangle
Zacchaeus if they could get their hands on him cannot
believe what they are seeing: 'This Jesus,' they complain,
'has gone to stay at a sinner's house.' Their cutting words,
however, are a moment of truth for Zacchaeus, There and
then, in the presence of Jesus, who has been so friendly, so
accepting, so understanding, so ready to forgive, Zacchaeus
stands his ground: 'Look, sir, he says, 'I am going to give
half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone,
I will pay back four times the amount.' His turn-around, his
change of heart, his conversion, could hardly be more
spontaneous, more sincere, or more complete. Jesus
acknowledges this when he replies: 'I have come to seek out
and save what was lost. Today salvation, today wholeness,
has come to this house.' Yet once more, as happens again and
again in the gospels, it is contact with Jesus, that
triggers conversion, that change of mind, heart, and
life-style.
Brothers and Sisters! There is just so much enlightenment
and comfort for you and me too in this touching incident. We
see Jesus for what he was and remains, 'the friend of
sinners', and therefore our friend. Our understanding,
compassionate, and forgiving friend! Our friend who is there
when others fail or desert us! The one who is present when
others are absent! The one who helps and heals when others
only criticize and condemn! The one who never gives up on
us, never despairs of us! The one who waits patiently for us
to change our lives, and who allows us time to do so! The
one, in short, who loves us with an everlasting love, an
everlasting forgiving love, an everlasting healing love, and
an everlasting transforming love! The one whom. we are
meeting today [tonight) in our holy communion with him and
one another!
Just like Zacchaeus, then, let us welcome this great
person Jesus and his ‘amazing grace’ into our homes and into
our lives, knowing and trusting what a wonderful and lasting
difference he will make!
So, from the bottom of our needy and yearning hearts, let
us pray as never before: ‘Lord, I am not worthy that you
should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my
soul (i.e. I myself) will be healed.’
"Brian
Gleeson CP" <bgleesoncp@gmail.com>
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Volume 2 is for you. Your thoughts, reflections,
and insights on the next Sundays readings can influence the
preaching you hear. Send them to
preacherexchange@att.net. Deadline is
Wednesday Noon. Include your Name, and Email Address.
-- Fr. John
