I’m putting on a green shirt to attend a parish gathering. The front says “St. Richard Parish Family.” The reverse has a black tree with “Family Reunion” in white. The roots sport the word “Jesus.” Our parish in Swanton, Ohio hopes that everyone realizes that all of us are rooted in Christ. According to Simone Weil, “To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.” Without roots there is no tree. Without Christ there is no me. Creation began when God wanted to share the Godhead completely. Something had to receive the love, and that’s the universe, planet Earth, all people, Jesus, you and me.
Do you see yourself as rooted in Christ? Is our common rootedness in Christ filling the need of your soul?
Sunday’s Gospel was the familiar and beloved story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10). We read in Scripture: “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.”
I went to Saturday evening Eucharist at a little country parish. Fr. Mark gave new meaning to this gospel as he preached. He told us to use our imaginations and go back to the time in which Zacchaeus lived. He invited us to note that Zacchaeus was a man of wealth. Now men of wealth, Fr. Mark said, in those days showed off their wealth by “eating their way” to happiness. The bigger the girth, the wealthier the man! Therefore, he said, we can imagine that Zacchaeus was very rotund, probably as wide as he was tall. So, further use your imagination and think of the mighty challenge it was for this “fat little man” to climb a tree, literally out on a limb with all his weight. Fr. Mark said that in all likelihood, Jesus was first attracted to looking up because of the groaning and creaking of the limb right above him! Gives new meaning to “Zacchaeus, come down quickly,” doesn’t it?!!
In light of Zacchaeus’ example in climbing that tree, which was undoubtedly no small feat for a man of his size, we are invited to ask ourselves a few questions this week as we live into the words of this beloved Gospel story:
Is our desire to see Jesus great enough that we are willing to leave behind the things we consider so important?
Are we humble enough to admit that Jesus sees us in all our uniqueness — and loves us just this way?
Can we climb that tree no matter how challenging the task or how foolish we may seem to others?
Be “Z” this week. Want Jesus. Go out to meet Jesus. Live Jesus. He’s everywhere … if you only have the eyes to see —- and the sycamore tree to climb!
OK, I admit it: I’m no great shakes at cooking. Oh, I try. Knives are my nemesis. The other day I attempted to cut a butternut squash. You should have seen me before I got a decent knife! WITH the decent knife the poor squash went bouncing off the counter and I said a quick prayer that my neighbors below me would not hear the loud bang when I slammed the squash against the cutting board to get it free from the knife! So, yes, cooking is an “experience,” a “happening” in my apartment!
Despite my inexperience, I take a nearly gleeful delight in creating something worthwhile to eat. And so it was that last weekend I made a crockpot full of black beans and veggies — with plenty of butternut squash — with the intent of wanting to share this bounty with someone at work who was just returning from burying her beloved dad. With some trembling and fear (Maria has the reputation of being a soup-maker par excellence), I called her up and said I had something to bring over. Hoping and praying it tasted OK, I took over a big bowl of steaming veggies for her supper last Sunday night.
Something about that experience changed me. Out of my poverty, my insufficiency, my inability, and inadequacy, a divine gift was shared. Cups full of love (in addition to the squash and onions and mushrooms) were added with a liberality characteristic of this season of harvest. Maria was touched and grateful. More than that, I was touched that my simple gift was gift to her amidst her grieving. Isn’t it amazing the gifts we can offer from our own weakness and humility? Isn’t it amazing how the grateful reception of our gifts shifts our confidence? Isn’t it amazing how God works?
By the way … in case you were wondering … a couple of hours later I sat down to try the crockpot wonder myself. Simply divine!
Happy Feastday! Has anyone extended this greeting to you today? I hope you will hear it at least once! After all, it is your feast, our feast, the feast of all the “little saints” here and gone before us. Oh, we are used to the “biggies” … the Peters and Pauls, the Matthew – Mark – Luke – and John quartet … Mary Magdalen, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Joan of Arc, and the list goes on and on. They have their own special feast days on our liturgical calendar. But what about us? Have you given a thought to your own grandparents, your Mom and Dad, your siblings who have gone before you? Do you think of them as saints? Do you think of yourself as a “Saint-in-the-making?” Today is a good day to take some time to celebrate them, their ongoing presence in your life. Today is a good day to celebrate us, saints on the way, doing our best to live a life of joyful service and compassionate grace. What will you do to celebrate today? Happy Feastday!
Light transforms an ordinary pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern. Similarly, the light of Christ transforms us ordinary people into saints. Who, after all, are the saints? They’re the people who let God’s light shine through in everything they do. We are privileged to carry the light of Christ within us. Do we let it shine?
Today be a jack-o-lantern. Let your light shine. Compliment the cashier or waitress. Pay it forward. Tell family members and friends how much you appreciate them. Be grateful for even the tiny things. Surprise someone with an act of kindness. It takes just a few minutes to transform a dismal autumn day into an experience of God’s goodness.
A heart-stopping moment: I was driving home from the Jesuit Center the other day when a large deer darted right in front of the car. Awesome!
A heart-expanding moment: I was praying Monday morning when I looked out across the newly harvested cornfield and witnessed a very BIG buck leap across the field, antlers held high. Awesome!
Two events, awesome in their own way. What is it about deer that lure us into observing creation with a more careful and contemplative eye?
So much of God’s creation we take for granted. As fall continues to unfold before our very eyes in the splendor and majesty of color … in the animals seeking food before winter approaches … in the whispers of wind and colder breezes … let’s be attentive. Look … listen … smell … taste … feel … in a word: SAVOR. Beauty is everywhere!
Where will you discover God’s beauty anew this day?
St. Joan of Arc
Halloween is coming, and many little people in our Catholic schools will dress as saints to celebrate All Saints Day on November 1. We’ll see a serene Therese of Lisieux, a Blessed Virgin Mary, and a Saint Joseph. Less often do we see the saints whose horrifying deaths were as gory as the latest movie. Saint Sebastian was shot through with arrows. Saint Francis of Assisi suffered the five wounds of Christ. Saint Lawrence was grilled over fire and supposedly joked, “Turn me over. I’m done on this side.” Saint Joan of Arc, too, was burned alive. Saint John the Baptist and Saint Paul were beheaded. Saint Ignatius of Antioch was fed to the lions. Saint Stephen was stoned to death, and Saint Isaac Jogues was killed by a tomahawk.
Sometimes we think of holiness as serene. We picture saints wrapped in contemplation, basking in God’s love. Certainly there were such times, but all of them—however they lived and died—were horribly good disciples of Jesus Christ.
There are more statues of this man than anyone else at El Santuario de Chimayó in the small village of Chimayó in northern New Mexico. He outstrips St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Francis of Assisi and even Our Lady of Guadalupe and Nuestro Señor de Esquipulas, in whose honor the pilgrimage site was created many, many years ago. Who is this man? None other than the one we celebrate this day in Catholic tradition: St. Jude. The one we give the name “patron of hopeless causes.” One of the obscure apostles who has left obscurity behind in popular Catholic piety. No other “saint” garners as many novenas as does St. Jude!
I have a special affinity for this Gospel fellow since I grew up in the parish of St. Jude in Toledo many moons ago. Though the church was officially closed a number of years ago, I’d like to think the spirit of that lively Catholic community lives on in those of us who were so privileged to be a part of this dynamic parish. Fond memories of feast day celebrations rose up as I prayed this morning: dress up days in green and gold (our St. Jude colors), chrysanthemums on the altar in greens and golds, processions, novenas, green and yellow frosted cupcakes for the occasion. All the things children would remember! The halcyon days of youth.
And today? Perhaps we need St. Jude more than ever. Amidst government shutdowns, health care glitches of major proportions, wars raging across the globe, ever ongoing violence in our schools, vast environmental degradation, poverty, hunger, abortion, you-name-it … who is the saint for our times? Maybe amidst the growing rise of uncertainty and disillusionment we need a saint who can help us walk through the minefield of hopelessness and fear. Maybe St. Jude needs to be more than a saint for personal hopeless causes. Maybe we need to ask him to walk with us collectively and globally.
And just maybe … WE need to BECOME the “Saint Judes” and “Saint Judiths” of today. Maybe WE need to stand up in the face of fear and hopelessness, and as Christians offer a word of truth … encouragement … comfort to those in despair. Maybe WE need to BECOME charity and justice, the “two-feet-of-love-in-action” as the very remedy for hopelessness in our world.
Indeed … on this day and every day: Saint Jude, pray for us!
Shakespeare’s comedies are near tragedies. The mix-ups and disguises, the twists of language, the intricate plot bring the audience to the brink of tragedy; however, something happens in the last act that changes course, and we receive that “happy-ever-after” feeling. The near tragedy becomes a comedy, often shown in an expression of community, such as a dance or actors staged in a circle.
The life of Jesus, too, was near tragedy. Everything pointed to crucifixion. On Good Friday tragedy prevailed, but Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He had the last laugh. Soldiers thought they had Jesus beaten? Ha-ha! The religious authorities thought Jesus was silenced? Ha-ha! Jerusalem would forget him? Ha-ha! Resurrection transforms the tragic ending into a comic beginning—like the Shakespearean comedy that ends in community. Now the Risen Christ is identified with all God’s People, and all God’s People are part of the Body of Christ. We, the community of Jesus Christ, have the last laugh.
For this reason we carve jack-o-lanterns, symbols of the last laugh. Their smiling faces seem to say, “Death, you can’t scare me. I’m going to rise with Jesus Christ! Graveyards, you’re not scary. I’m going to rise with Jesus Christ! Skeletons, that’s not me. I’m in heaven!” As you see jack-o-lanterns this week, let them remind you of resurrection and community in Christ.
“Seeing how God works in nature can help us understand how He works in our lives,” Janette Oke claims. Surrounded by 95 acres of woods, lake and meadow I live up close and personal to nature. Sometimes nature is slow, like a long cold spring when summer weather is hardly in time for the Fourth of July picnic. Sometimes nature is very fast. Leaves turn red with the turning of the calendar to August. Nature can feel like feast or famine—grapevines bare one year and heavy another. Nature is mysterious with more species unknown than known. Constantly changing, ever surprising, sometimes interminably slow, other times unnaturally fast are nature and God’s work in our lives.
How is God slow in your life? How is God fast? Is God more like feast or famine? Do you want God to be mysterious or well-known?
Take some time to observe nature, and then observe God’s work in your life.