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31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) for 11-4-07

Scripture ReadingsFirst Wisdom 11:22-12:2Second 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2Gospel Luke 19:1-10

Prepared by: Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P.

1. Subject Matter

God mercifully calls sinners to repentance

God makes us worthy of his calling and powerfully brings to fulfillment every good purposeand every effort of faith

The phenomenon of seeking to see who Jesus wasWhat is this? Where does it comefrom?

2. Exegetical Notes

You loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated you would not have fashioned:God, whose power is irresistible and who is therefore free of constraint, loves all the thingsthat his creative power has made, for only love can explain his having created and preservedthem. Because of this love, he pardons them and is patient in their regard so that they mightrepent (A. Wright).

that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you: The Name is the very person ofChrist. In the ancient East the use of the name called forth the effective power of the person(JBC citing L. Cerfaux).

Zacchaeus starts with two strikes against him: he is a tax collector and he is wealthy. Goddestines to send away empty the self-satisfied wealthy (Lk 1:53). Jesus pronounces against

the rich who seek their consolation in the present (Lk 6:24). Christs parables berate thefoolishness of the self-content (Lk12:16-21) and underscore the torment they incur onthemselves (Lk 16:19-31). The hope of the wealthy lies in giving what they have to the poor(Lk 18:22) and in living with the self-abandonment of the poor (Lk 21:1).

When Zacchaeus hurries down from the tree, his action imitates that of the Blessed VirginMary hastening to visit Elizabeth (1:39) as well as that of shepherds rushing to adore Jesusin the manger (Lk 2:16).

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3. References to the Catechism of the Catholic Church

288 The revelation of creation is inseparable from the revelation and forging of the covenantof the one God with his People. Creation is revealed as the first step towards this covenant,the first and universal witness to God's all-powerful love. And so, the truth of creation is alsoexpressed with growing vigor in the message of the prophets, the prayer of the psalms and

the liturgy, and in the wisdom sayings of the Chosen People.

68 By love, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. He has thus provided thedefinitive, superabundant answer to the questions that man asks himself about the meaningand purpose of his life.

1492 Repentance (also called contrition) must be inspired by motives that arise from faith. Ifrepentance arises from love of charity for God, it is called "perfect" contrition; if it is foundedon other motives, it is called "imperfect."

1896 Where sin has perverted the social climate, it is necessary to call for the conversion ofhearts and appeal to the grace of God. Charity urges just reforms. There is no solution to thesocial question apart from the Gospel (cf. CA 3, 5).

4. Patristic Commentary and Other Authorities

St. Ambrose: As we witness the miracle of conversion in Zacchaeus, who will hereafterdespair of himself, not that he (Zacchaeus) attens grace who gained his living by fraud.

TIT. BOST. The seed of salvation had begun to spring up in him, for he desired to see Jesus,having never seen Him. For if he had seen Him, he would long since have given up the Publican's

wicked life. No one that sees Jesus can remain any longer in wickedness. But there were two

obstacles to his seeing Him. The multitude not so much of men as of his sins prevented him, forhe was little of stature.

Msgr. Luigi Giussani: Let us look again at the Lords encounter with Zacchaeus. Hurrybecause I am to stay at your house today. And he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully(Lk 19:5-6). This is the Eucharist: Christ gives us back a humanity capable of justice, of joy,of welcomea true humanity; and he does this by coming to our house. We, too, would liketo be snatched from the trees of our various plans and hear him say: I am coming to you.Or, we might desire the familiarity of the youngest disciple who laid his head on Jesusshoulder at the last supper. But there is nothing more profound than the type of familiaritythat Christ makes me capable of by giving himself to me as food and drink. What the signpoints to really happens within the material sign itself: he becomes one with me. In a sign, anunimaginably profound, ontological relationship is communicated to our lives.

Fr. Julian Carron: Lets not surrender the desire that constitutes us. The problem is notweakness, but giving in to the lie. We can be weak and fall a thousand times, but we canbegin again. If we dont give in to the lie, there is no problem. The lie is I dont desire this.Because you are denying what your heart desires. Nothing can impede the fact that we keepdesiring something. Christ awakens our desire. For example, the Samaritan woman, shecould hide her husbands, but she couldnt deny that she wanted to be happier. OrZacchaeus. The Word became Flesh to continue the dialogue with you and me.

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Msgr. Luigi Giussani: The greatest miracle, which left a deep imprint on the disciples everyday, was not the healing of crippled legs, the cleansing of diseased skin, or the restoration ofsight to the blind. The greatest miracle of all was impossible to evade. Nothing is moreconvincing to man than a gaze which takes hold of him and recognizes what he is, whichreveals man to himself. Jesus saw inside man. No one could hide in front of him, and before

him the depths of conscience had no secrets. Quite simply, Zacchaeus had beenpenetrated and captured by a gaze that recognized and loved him for what he was. Theability to take hold of the heart of a man is the greatest, most persuasive miracle of all.

Fr. Bernard Bro, O.P.: But all the God of Jesus has to say, in history and in our daily lives,is: Are you willing? Disarmed and disarming: Are you willing? Are you willing, like theprodigal son, to rely on another image of yourself and so recover hope? Are you willing, likeZacchaeus to look beyond your guilt? Attuned to the Beatitudes, are you willing to take thepoor man in, to suffer for righteousness, peace and mercy? Are you willing not to be afraid ofweeping? Are you willing to entrust me with your past and future? Are you willing? And lastly,are you willing to have me? Are you willing to lead your life with me, the real life, the life of

hoping and giving, of truth and joy? No longer us, then, purifying our ideas or inventing ouridols, no longer us seeking God by the light of our own courage, our own notions: but God,God himself, with Jesus face, embodied in the concrete events of daily life, coming lookingfor us and asking this one question: Are you willing, are you willing to make your life apartnership with me? Are you willing?

Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity: The master unceasingly repeats this word to our soulwhich he once addressed to Zacchaeus. Hurry and come down. But what is this descentthat he needs of us except an entering more deeply into our interior abyss? This act is notan external separation from external things, but a solitude of spirit, a detachment from allthat is not God. As long as our will has fancies that are foreign to divine union, whims thatare now yes, now no, we are like children; we do not advance with giant steps in love for firehas not yet burnt up all the alloy; the gold is not pure; we are still seeking ourselves; God hasnot consumed all our hostility to him. Gods love leads us by ways and paths known to himalone; and he leads us with no turning back, for we will not retrace our steps.

5. Examples from the Saints and Other Exemplars

Christs visitation of Zacchaeus household recalls the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Maryto Elizabeth: Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?

What was the reaction of the lepers of Molokai when Fr. Damien de VeusterBlessedDamien the Leperarrived on the island and decided to live with them? Was it in any way

like that of Zacchaeus? The story told in The Exemplarof Bl. Henry Suso being visited by young menemissaries

from heaven. The first one told him that they had been sent down to him from God to givehim heavenly joy in his suffering. He should, he said, cast his sufferings out of his mind, jointheir company, and take part in their heavenly dancing. Earlier, an angel had told Suso:Look with joy into yourself and see how dear God plays his games of love with youraffectionate soul.

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6. Quotations from Pope Benedict XVI

Being a Christian as such is to be transformed; it must involve repentance and not justsome embellishment added onto the rest of ones life. It reaches down into our depths andrenews us from those very depths. The more we ourselves as Christians are renewed fromthe root up, the better we can understand the mystery of transformation.

God came down in Christ, took upon himself the limitations of human existence, sufferingthem to the end, and in the infinite love of the crucified One opened up the door to infinity.The real end of creation, its underlying purposeand conversely that of human existence aswilled by the Creatoris this very union, that God may be all in all.

It is really so: the purpose of our lives is to reveal God to men. And only where God is seendoes life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. Weare not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of athought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. There isnothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ.There is nothing more beautiful than to know him and to speak to others of our friendship

with him.7. Other Considerations

What PUT Zacchaeus in that tree in the first place? What was he looking for? He had aDESIRE that went beyond even his ambition, exploitation, and sinto see Jesus.

Repentance always directed toward a person (L. Albacete).

I must stay at your house. To be welcomed by Christ makes us forever welcoming ofChrist (cf. 9:47-48). Who knows: maybe Zacchaeus was that unnamed disciple on the roadto Emmaus who pleaded with the unrecognized risen Christ: Stay with us (Lk 24:29).

Recommended Resources

Benedict XVI, Pope. Benedictus. Yonkers: Magnificat, 2006.

Cameron, Peter John. To Praise, To Bless, To PreachCycle C. Huntington: Our SundayVisitor, 2000.

Malovetz, Gregory. http://www.borromeo.org/reflect/homilies2004/31stSunOrd2004.html