The Gospel for the memorial of the presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is taken from Luke 19th chapter, first through the 10th verse. At that time, Jesus came to Jericho, 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 will stay at your house.
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 my possessions. Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall pay it back four times over. Then Jesus said, 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 is lost. Though this isn’t called a miracle story, it seems miraculous that when one opens their heart to God, they’re open to something radically different.
It is so directed toward other people. And so the miracle to me is when Zacchaeus receives this sense of God’s presence entering into him. He gives away his money he takes care of, making sure that anyone he took advantage of gets paid back more than they deserve. It’s just a perfect image of what happens when God enters our life, how important it is to stand up straight and look at things and choose the kingdom of God over the kingdom of greed. Foreign Closing Prayer Father, our hearts are made for generosity, but it’s so easy for us to get caught up in a selfish mode that tends to make everything work somehow for us. Bless us with the generosity that flows from your spirit within us.
We depend on it to overcome, imitating the world around us that seems to be so focused on its own needs, its own wants, its own desires. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
