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Theo Tigno•
11/16/2004 11:09 am
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Tuesday, November 16th 2004 |
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 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."
Dawg's thought:
Today's prayer intention is for our troops oversees, that God keeps them safe in His care and His mercy.
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1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God's forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.
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I'm sure people looked at Zacchaeus and thought, "What the heck is this tax collector doing here?" There are many who probably passed judgment on him because of who He was. I'm sure that there were many who were in shock, then, when Jesus calls this man who is "evil" in their site to house Our Lord in his home.
The last line of today's quote from The Catechism of the Catholic Church seems appropriate: we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God. We are not to pass judgment, but we are called to point out sin, trusting that they have been made with the same dignity and desire to be with Our Lord. We must entrust that even though we all have sin in our own past, we also have the "radical possibility" to love and to be in the state of grace. It is through Christ that all sinners are saved... even me... even you.
"Today salvation has come!" Let us proclaim that Jesus Christ is here with the dignity that He has given us through His gift of Himself in His Body and His Blood. Take care and God Bless.
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