The Catholic Calendar for Tuesday, November 15, 2005
The Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
St. Albert the Great, bishop and doctor of the Church

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
2 Maccabees 6:18-31
Psalm 3:2-3, 4-5, 6-7
Luke 19:1-10

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

If our Lord came up to you today and asked to come to your home for dinner, would you be ready? Would you be willing to let Him in and dine with you on such short notice, knowing that your home was not clean and the refrigerator nearly empty since your plan was to buy groceries the next day? Would you welcome Him anyway regardless of how things were with you personally, long overdue for a haircut, or unshaven for a day or two? Or would you offer Him a rain check for a better day when you had time to clean, prepare a king's feast and have yourself all spruced up for the great visit from your Lord?

Well, all of these things really do not matter. In today's gospel, Jesus calls to Zacchaeus and invites Himself to dinner and it is possible that Zacchaeus was not ready for this himself. Jesus did not go to Zacchaeus for a feast or to see his palatial home all cleaned and ready for the visit. No, Jesus went to Zacchaeus because he was a tax collector, a man in need of salvation.

Jesus comes to us the same way. He is not expecting us to be in our finest clothes with a gourmet meal all prepared and ready. He comes expecting us as we are, sinners in need of an all loving and all saving God. To be ready for Him is not to have our house all in perfect order, but rather to be willing to accept Him when He calls and ready to do His bidding and receive the free gift He brings.

Jesus will help us get our house in order. Are you now ready?

- Don Claunch, SFO
(dlclaunch at bresnan dot net)