Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, you are the Alpha and the Omega., meaning y You have given me life and offer me eternal life with you. You deserve ourmy honor, gratitude and love, and yet you never impose yourself upon usme. Thank you for respecting my freedom so that I can offer myself to you. All that I have is yours,; I return it to you. My Jesus I want you to come and stay at my house today. Allow me to make this moment of prayer an intimate dialogue with you.

Petition: Lord, increase my faith so that I will be able to discover your presence in my life and be strengthened to better fulfill my Christian vocation. 

1. Zacchaeus up a Tree: . Yesterday and today’s Gospel passages speak eloquently of the need to encounter Christ at all costs. The blind man we read about yesterday would not stop shouting until he was brought to the Lord. Today a short and very unpopular man named Zacchaeus runs back and forth among the crowd until finally, in his determination to encounter Christ, he breaks all protocol and scrambles up a tree. Jesus wastes no time in entering decisively into this tax collector’s life and transforming it. This resembles our own encounter with Christ. At times different obstacles stand in our way and prevent us from seeing Our Lord and his action in our lives. Above all we lack determination. How easy it is to craft excuses: “I am just too short,” “Maybe Jesus is too busy,” “I am just a sinner.”… If you we really want Our Lord to stay at your house, he will, but there may be trees that we need to be climbed first.

2. Welcoming Jesus: . Few people ever welcomed Jesus with such the joy and exuberance as did this little man. He came down from the tree, gave half of his wealth to the poor, and promised to restore any fraudulent transactions four times over. Zacchaeus has truly been like that merchant in search of fine pearls (seecf. Matthew 13:45-46). He is willing to sell all he has to buy the pearl of great price: friendship and intimacy with the Lord. How many times has Jesus looked up at us and asked us to remain with him? How many times have we had the immense grace of receiving the King of kings into our hearts in the Blessed Eucharist? Do we offer merely a corner of our hearts for him or do we reserve the presidential suite? How pure do we maintain our souls for our Guest?

3. Of Sinners and Saints: . What makes someone a saint and someone else a sinner? Certainly it is not the grumbling of the jealous crowd who are unwilling to climb up the tree to see Jesus yet are quick to criticize anyone who does. Nor is it the conclusion of a mathematical proof. In fact, everyone is a sinner. St. Paul writes, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy 1:15). Yet St. Paul, Zacchaeus, and you and I all go from being sinners to saints when we encounter Christ and are faithful to his friendship. Salvation came to Zacchaeus’ house when Jesus entered it, and salvation comes to us through the graces received at baptism, renewed in the Sacrament of Penance, and nurtured in the Eucharist. 

Conversation with Christ: Jesus, help me to be willing to do whatever it takes to grow in a deeper friendship with you. Don’t allow me to worry about the murmurings of the crowd, but only to listen to your voice and respond to it with generosity.

Resolution: I will make a point to go to confession at the next possible opportunity asking Jesus to forgive me of my sins and to help me to turn from being a sinner into being a saint. I will make it a real encounter with Jesus.