Thirty-first Sunday – Ordinary Time Cycle C
Reflecting on Luke 19:1-10
Oh, Zaccheus. We really get you. Short in stature and huge of heart, you couldn’t hear or see through the crowd. The Jesus whom you longed to know was here! Right here in Jericho! So you climbed straight up that sycamore in order to see him whom your heart already loved. Your story inspires us still, and so we have the courage to pray:
From The Life of Jesus in Nazareth, 1908
Find us, Jesus, as we rise and pray our Morning Offering, as we care for children and parents, as we strap on our sneakers and go to the gym, as we give everything we have to our jobs and our families, as we make our examen before falling asleep. Find us, Jesus, as we hear the baby cry and leave our warm beds, as we stand firm against the strong wills of our unformed teenagers, as we look at the same photo album a thousand times with our parents who suffer from Alzheimer’s.
Find us, Jesus, as we navigate the path back to peace after an argument, insight after a humbling experience, faith after a time of doubt. Find us, Jesus, as we process together to receive you in the Eucharist, then to see you at every table throughout the week.
Find us today, Jesus. See us in that sycamore. Call us by our name. Invite yourself to our house for dinner tonight. Please, Jesus. AMEN.
We are gifted with a question at the ground of our being. And even in the worst of times, we climb trees to find out what the answer might be. (John Kavanaugh, S.J.)
My dear friends Mary Frances and Bill Jaster inspired this column.
Sharing God’s Word at Home:
In what ways do you seek Jesus?
What would YOU like to say about this question, or today’s readings, or any of the columns from the past year? The sacred conversations are setting a Pentecost fire! Register here today and join the conversation.
I have come to light a fire on the earth; how I wish it were already burning (Lk.12:49).