The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, November 03, 2019 as the 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time in the Church’s Year C. In the entrance antiphon we pray: “Do not abandon me, Lord. My God, do not go away from me! Hurry to help me, my Saviour. Amen.”
The first reading, from the Book of Wisdom, speaks of God’s goodness and love for his creatures, especially his sons and daughters that we are. Nowhere in the Old Testament is God’s love, mercy and care for his creation so clearly seen. In the second reading, from Second Thessalonians, Saint Paul calls our attention to the second coming of Christ at the end of time. He has always been amazed at the fidelity of his converts of Thessalonica to Christ despite the persecutions they have suffered and he prays in this reading for their faith in Christ Jesus to deepen. In the Gospel, Saint Luke leads us smoothly from the parable of the Pharisee and the publican of last Sunday to the story of the conversion of another publican, Zacchaeus, who rejoices to welcome Jesus into his home and into his life. This is a clear example of Christ seeking out what was lost as he receives back a son of Abraham, who had strayed from the faith. As we listen to the readings of this day, let us pray for the grace of repentance so that we too, like the tax collector Zacchaeus, can experience the presence of divine goodness that Jesus always brings into the lives of believers. Amen.
First Reading: Wisdom 11: 22-12:2.
Before the Lord the whole universe is as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth. But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people's sins that they may repent. For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned. And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Lord and lover of souls, for your imperishable spirit is in all things! Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O Lord!
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks for be to God.
Comment
Historically, the Book of Wisdom is probably the last book of the Old Testament, being written only a few decades before the birth of Christ. It was originally written in the Greek spoken in the cities of Lower Egypt after the conquest of that zone by Alexander the Great in the last third of the 4th century BC.
The authors of The African Bible tell us that the Greek culture at the time of this book was so attractive that many Jews were beginning to abandon Jewish culture in favour of the Greek. That is why the author deemed it necessary to warn the Jews that their culture had nothing to envy from the dominant Greek culture. He has a clear religious goal in mind, that is, to set wisdom in the context of the profound faith in the God of Israel, the one and only God. His faith leads him not only to praise wisdom as a virtue but to go beyond that and depict wisdom as a divine attribute. Moreover, he puts forward a religious interpretation of history as being the history of salvation and provides a clear overview of the history of the chosen people and of their dealings with other peoples. With this, he calls on the Jewish people to be proud of their culture that is divinely inspired.
The passage of our meditation speaks of God’s love for his creatures and is one of the high-points of Old Testament literature. It shows God’s steadfast love and mercy towards all created things. God would never have created something which he would then not love. As Saint Thomas Aquinas says, “God loves all living things. He does not love in the same way as we do, for our will does not make things good; human love is a movement of the will towards its object […]; the love of God creates and fills all things with goodness” (Summa theologiae, 1, 20,2).
Therefore, when God punishes man, as he sometimes does, his intention is always one of love and mercy. The author tells us that God is all-powerful and his mercy does not stem from any weakness but rather it is the effect of his love for the living. Let us therefore open ourselves up to God’s mercy because in his kindness he is calling us, who are stained with sin, to return to his heart of mercy through a good confession. Holy Spirit, come to our assistance. Amen.
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3: 7-12
Brothers and sisters: We always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ. We ask you, brothers and sisters, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling with him, not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to be alarmed either by a “spirit,” or by an oral statement, or by a letter allegedly from us to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comment
From Acts of the Apostles (17:1), we know that Paul, accompanied by Silas, arrived in Thessalonica in the course of his second apostolic journey (A.D. 49-52). That city was originally a Greek city that had come under the control of the Romans in 186 B.C. It was an important commercial port city which had become one of the most important cities in Macedonia in Paul’s time. It was a typical pagan city in which the inhabitants worshipped their own gods and goddesses.
There were quite a number of Jews living there and, in keeping with his tradition, Paul first went into the synagogue to proclaim the Good News. His stay is thought to have lasted about three months during which time many Jews and Gentiles came to believe because of his preaching, including many influential women of the city (Acts 17:4). His success led certain jealous and influential Jews to organize demonstrations against him, and Paul and Silas had to leave town in a hurry for fear of being stoned to death.
After Paul’s departure, his converts began to experience persecution by the Jews. Not being able to go back to Thessalonica himself, Paul sent Timothy to confirm and encourage them in their faith (1 Thess 3: 1-2). Timothy later joined Paul in Corinth with a good report of how the Thessalonians were persevering in their faith despite the persecution (1 Thess 3: 6-9). He also reported that certain questions were troubling the Thessalonians – the question of life after death and the second coming of Christ – the Parousia. That is when Paul wrote his first letter, which Timothy took back to them.
In the passage of our meditation, which is taken from his second letter, Saint Paul prays for a deepening of their faith in Christ Jesus. He assures them that it is God’s power that has made them what they are. By praying for his converts, Saint Paul sets a good example for all preachers of the Word to follow.
The theme of this letter is however the timing of the second coming of Christ – the Parousia. Some people were unsettling the minds of the Thessalonians by saying that the Parousia was about to happen. Some of Paul’s enemies, who were claiming to have charismatic gifts of prophecy from the Holy Spirit, were spreading their own ideas as if they had been received from God. Some of them even claimed to be speaking in Paul’s name.
The Church is still facing similar problems to this day. False prophets are still misleading God’s people today in our cities by twisting the meaning of Sacred Scripture with claims that they pretend are from the Holy Spirit. The Fathers of the Church tell us that “The task of giving an authentic interpretation, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ” (Dei Verbum, 10). Come, Oh Holy Spirit, and shield us from the teachings of false prophets. We make our supplication through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Gospel acclamation: “Alleluia, alleluia! God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life. Alleluia!”
Gospel: Luke 19: 1-10.
At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”
V/ The Gospel of the Lord.
R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Comment
Jesus is about to enter the city of Jerusalem. At the entrance, he cures a blind man, Bartimaus, who, Saint Luke tells us, becomes fervent disciple of the Lord, following him and glorifying God alongside all the people, who are giving praise to God (Lk 18: 43). News of what Christ has been doing reaches a senior tax collector, a man of great wealth, Zacchaeus, who is determined to see Jesus for himself but being a short man, he is not able to see him because of the crowd. He runs ahead and climbs up a tree to see Christ.
As a tax collector, Zacchaeus is in a class of people whom the Jews hate with a passion. They collect taxes for the Roman authority, often levying more than the amount required and keeping the cut for themselves. This made them one of the riches but most hated people among the Jews.
Zacchaeus has a burning desire to see Jesus and nothing is going to stop him. When Christ reaches the tree on which is perched the tax collector, he stops, looks up and calls him by name and invites him to come down from the tree. Christ even accepts Zacchaeus’ invitation to his home for dinner.
Christ, who knows us all by name, who calls us from our mother’s womb to be his disciples, is also asking us to receive him in our homes today. But sometimes we are too busy to hear him asking us to come down from our own tree of problems, of worries, of fear to welcome him into our hearts. We are sometimes worried about what others are going to think of us if we invite our Lord into our homes. We are unwilling to keep a crucifix in our home for fear visitors might wonder what the matter is wrong with us. We thus refuse to keep anything in our home that can identify us as Catholic (no crucifix, no picture of our Lord, or of the Holy Family, or of saints).
We should take the cue from Zacchaeus. Not only does he open the door of his house and of his heart to our Lord, he openly and publicly proclaims his conversion. Saint John Paul II, commenting on Zacchaeus’ action, says that “He was not frightened by the fact that to receive Christ into his house might jeopardize, for example, his professional career, or make difficult some actions connected with his activity as chief tax collector” (John Paul II, Address, November 2, 1980).
Zacchaeus has embarked on a new life, that of a fearless disciple of Christ. He openly promises to restitute what he has taken above what the law requires and, in addition, he gives away half of his fortune to the poor. That is what an encounter with Christ should do to us; it should inspire us to be generous with other people, especially the poor and the needy.
When Jesus goes into Zacchaeus’ house, the self-righteous, the Scribes and the Pharisees, begin to grumble against him for showing affection to a man they consider a sinner. Christ makes no excuses for his behaviour but instead responds with some of the most beautiful words of the Gospels: “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek out and save the lost” (vv 9-10).
What should this story of Zacchaeus teach you and me? It clearly tells us that no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. There are many people in our families, in our community, where we work, who are yearning to meet Jesus and they do not know how. They are looking for the right tree to climb on so they can see our Lord passing by, hoping he will stop and call them to open the door of their home and of their hearts to him. We are perhaps that tree on which our family members, whose faith has slackened, are yearning to climb on. Let us invite them to come to Christ with us. Holy Spirit, strengthen my faith so that I, in turn, can lead others into Christ’s waiting arms. I make my prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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