Tuesday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time

Scripture Readings: Rev 3:1-6, 14-22;  Lk 19:1-10

People judged Zacchaeus by his past. But Jesus saw what Zacchaeus could become, the way Michelangelo could see the beauty of the Pieta in a rough, jagged block of marble. Graced by Jesus, the mercurial Simon bar Jona became Peter the rock; the persecutor Saul became Paul the tireless apostle; the wealthy Francesco Bernardone became the lover of Lady poverty, St. Francis of Assisi.

When Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “Come down quickly, I must stay at your house today!” there was urgency in his words: “Come down quickly!” St. Benedict, in the Prologue of his Rule for Monks, writes,“While there is still time … let us run to do now what will profit us for all eternity.”  Like Zacchaeus, may we seize the moments when grace is offered to us. “While there is still time … let us run to do now what will profit us for all eternity.” 

 

Tuesday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time

Scripture Readings: Rev. 3:1-6, 14-22;  Lk 19:1-10    

“Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he. He ran to climb a sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see.” Zacchaeus had his shortcomings.  But Jesus said to him, “Come down quickly, I must stay at your house today!” There was urgency in his words: “Come down quickly!”  St. Benedict, in the Prologue of his Rule for Monks, writes, “While there is still time … let us run to do now what will profit us for all eternity.”   Zacchaeus began by running ahead to the sycamore tree. Then, when Jesus called he did not delay his decision to love Jesus more than his own wealth. 

Like Zacchaeus we all have our shortcomings, our sins.  May we also have hearts like his, seizing the moments when grace is offered to us. “While there is still time … let us run to do now what will profit us for all eternity.”