+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

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O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

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St. Ignatius of Loyola: pray for us.

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Introduction

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"Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today" (Luke 19, 5). Zacchaeus was not only a tax collector (as Levi - later the Apostle Matthew - had been), but a "chief tax collector" and he was very "rich." When Jesus passed near his house, Zacchaeus "sought to see . . . Jesus" (Luke 19, 3) at all costs, and for this purpose - being small of stature - that day he climbed up into a tree "to see him" (Luke 19, 4). He indeed saw Jesus. Then Jesus asked a place in his house but He also asked a place in his soul. Zacchaeus was converted: he gave half of his possessions to the poor; he promised to restore four times what he had defrauded, redressing any wrong that he might have done to others. Seeing all this, the Lord said: "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham" (Luke 19, 9). In the light of this Gospel text we can reflect, on man's smallness, on God's infinite greatness, and finally on God’s mercy.

 

Preparatory prayer①: “the preparatory prayer is to ask grace of God our Lord that all my intentions, actions and operations may be directed purely to the service and praise of His Divine Majesty”.

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Composition of place: Here it will be to recall the story of the Zacchaeus (Luke 19, 1 - 10 ②) .

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Petition③: “[It] is to ask God our Lord for what I want and desire. We can ask a great desire for an encounter with Christ, a great desire for an encounter with his love and mercy."

 

Corpus of the Meditation

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I. Man’s Smallness

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“Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return” (Genesis 3, 19). These words recall our "beginning", because we were dust. These words recall the work of God who called the world and man from nothing to existence. He created man from the dust of the earth (cf. Genesis 2, 7). This is our humble origin: dust, nothing. From this, God created us.

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These words also recall our “end”, because we are going to be dust. And it is so evident! This truth is confirmed by the history of humanity, and by the experience of every man. These words speak of death, which brings an end to the life of every man on earth.

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Zacchaeus “was too short and could not see him for the crowd; so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way”.

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He knew his smallness, in the physical aspect and in the spiritual aspect. He was a sinner: a chief tax collector, that is, a big traitor, a person in charge of collecting taxes for the Empire that dominated Israel.

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We have the two extremes, Zacchaeus the creature, and Jesus his Creator, Zacchaeus the small one, and Jesus the great one, Zaccheaus the sinner, and Jesus the most holy.

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We can think that Zacchaeus realised the distance there was between Jesus and himself. As he climbed the tree to see Jesus, suddenly, Jesus calls him. The distance between sinner and Mercy started to get shorter, in fact, it couldn’t get any shorter. Jesus told him that He wanted to stay at his home.

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II. The Encounter Between Sinner and Mercy

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The Gospel says that Zacchaeus was seeking to see... Jesus, so he ran ahead and climbed a tree in order to see Him.

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We live in this visible world, in the midst of temporal and passing things, and we need - like Zacchaeus - to climb the tree to see the Lord, in order to see what is Eternal, what does not pass, what remains forever.

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As Zacchaeus longs to see Jesus, we also long to possess God. We want to see his face. In the words of the Psalmist: "Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God. My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life; when can I enter and see the face of God?" (Psalm 42, 1).

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This seeing God "face to face" (I Corinthians 13, 12) is the deepest desire of the human spirit.

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Zacchaeus didn’t forget he was a great sinner. He accepted with great joy Jesus’ self-invitation to stay at his home, but also accepted Him in his heart. So now conversion begins to work, a big conversion.

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Conversion brings joy, true happiness.

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III. Joy of Mercy

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Finally, the Gospel says that “Zacchaeus received Jesus with joy.” Praise and joy is the answer of man before the presence of God. The psalmist invites us to praise God for His Goodness. “I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God” (Psalm 145).

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This has to be our answer. Looking at God’s greatness and his Goodness, and at the same time looking at our smallness, our lowliness; our heart has to burst into praise.

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Thanks to this praise we can ascend, as Zacchaeus did by climbing up the tree to see Christ. This praise allows us in a certain sense to transcend all that ties us to earth, all that limits us, all that can lead us to distrust.

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This praise allows us to invite God into our hearts to rejoice in his presence, in his visit. This praise offers us the chance to rejoice in the salvation he brings by coming into our hearts, because it prepares us to receive the words of Christ, "Today salvation has come to this house…"

 

Colloquy

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When Christ called Zaccheus, he stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

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We cannot do less. Christ has come to encounter me, and he has called me by my name. He associated me with his very life, and actually I am Christian. And even though many times I was not faithful he kept calling me, “come down for I must stay at your house”.

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Before his merciful love, I should ask, “What have I done for Christ? What am I now doing for Christ? What ought I do for Christ?”

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Footnotes:

① SE 46.

② “He entered Jericho and was going through the town and suddenly a man whose name was Zacchaeus made his appearance; he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man. He kept trying to see who Jesus was, but he was too short and could not see him for the crowd; so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way. When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and spoke to him, 'Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I am to stay at your house today.' And he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully. They all complained when they saw what was happening. 'He has gone to stay at a sinner's house,' they said. But Zacchaeus stood his ground and said to the Lord, 'Look, sir, I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham; for the Son of man has come to seek out and save what was lost”.

③ SE 48.