“Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. (Luke 19: 5 - 6).
Tuesday 17th November 2020, 33rd Week in Ordinary Time is also the feast of St Elizabeth of Hungary. (1207 - 1231) Religious. Born Hungarian Princess. Married a German Prince. In her short life of only 23 years, Elizabeth had four children and then became a Franciscan Tertiary after the death of her husband. She spent the rest of her life bringing comfort to the poor, the sick and the aged.
Zacchaeus must have made a wave in the early Christian community because of the story of how he encountered Jesus for the first time. Because of his short stature, he climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus because there was a huge crowd surrounding Jesus. Jesus, touched by this humbling gesture reciprocated with warm friendly encouragement. “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.”
Who is Zacchaeus? A very wealthy tax collector. Probably living in a large estate with servants, horses and carriages. Be that as it may, Zacchaeus was despised and shunned in his community because he worked as a tax collector for the resented Roman government. Yet this man had such intense desire to meet Jesus and humbled himself to accomplish this goal.
Who is the Zacchaeus of our day? They may be:
* The abortion doctor and nurse.
* The young homeless pregnant teenage girl.
* The lady forced into prostitution in order to survive.
* The drug dealer from the ghetto.
* The refugee or immigrant scrapping a living at a night job nobody wants.
Like Zacchaeus, all the above are considered fringe elements, undesirables, etc. But Jesus who comes to seek the lost knows each one of them by name and knows where they are hiding.
St Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church says that the Lord Jesus has finished His work on earth and turned over to us to complete what needs to be done. Jesus is saying: Go find these people. You are now my feet and hands, my eyes and ears. Through corporal and spiritual works of mercy, the Church points out to us how to engage this mission.
If you want to explore the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, click on the link below:
http://seekfirstcommunity.com/2020/11/works-of-mercy.html?m=1
Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com
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