My friends, as I said in the bulletin, I opted for the readings from the 31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time rather than those for All Souls’ Day which falls on this Sunday, because I felt the readings would serve both All Saints’ Day which was yesterday and All Souls’ Day well.  In that context, it is good for us, right off, to remember that we are all saints and souls journeying within our humanity, back to God, in a more complete way, because, as we know, our God is always with us.  On this day then, it is good to remember all the saints from our parish who have gone before us, Cathy and Eric Bartleson, Shannon Hanzel, Mike Maher, Warren Galbus, Bob Sherman, Giles Schmid, Mary Paszkiewicz, and from our respective families and being grateful to God for their presence and example to us. 

   Looking then at the readings from Wisdom, 2 Thessalonians and Luke, for today, we can recognize with a deeper look that each is about salvation.  And here I mean something other than Jesus coming to die for us, but more so, “to live for us,” “to show us the way. 

   The beautiful story of Zacchaeus today is a grand case in point of this truth.  Zacchaeus, a man, short in physical stature, climbs a tree to see the famous man, Jesus, who has come to his town.  He like others wants to get a view and “up a tree” will give him that view, plus he will be, “out of sight” and safe, or so he thinks. 

   But, as we see, and Zacchaeus also sees, Jesus finds us where we are at and then loves us to more.  So, what do I mean by that?

   In order to understand Zacchaeus better and how Jesus calls him to a better place, we have to look at how Zacchaeus makes a living – he basically works for the Romans collecting taxes from his neighbors.  Tax collectors were generally looked down upon because not only did they collect the needed amount, but an extra portion for themselves and apparently there was no limit on what they could ask for, and we know that this was the case with Zacchaeus because the Scriptures say, “he was wealthy.”

   The human tendency, which each of us is probably guilty of to some degree, is to look down on those whose actions we don’t approve of.  With our brother Jesus, we see a different example to follow – Jesus “sees” people first, then their actions.   Zacchaeus no doubt knew that people despised him and that would explain the additional reason that he was “up a tree” – “to be safe.”

   Jesus, in the great heart of God, knows and understands Zacchaeus—he knows what he does for a living, and he knows why he does it—he knows all that makes up Zacchaeus’ life.  He doesn’t judge but moves to the next step — he respects Zacchaeus and loves him to be more than Zacchaeus thought was possible.  When we talk about salvation then, this is what it is really all about — finding the strength to be all we were created to be.

   There is an interesting twist in the story of Zacchaeus that Jesus ultimately calls “the lie” to.  In the time in which Jesus lived, any ailment that a person acquired and lived with was thought to be caused by a person’s sins – and “shortness of stature” would be seen in this way. 

   By the action that Jesus took, meeting the tax collector “where he was,” he showed that such “narrow” thinking could not be right, just or compassionate.  And Jesus’ response comes right out of the 1^st reading today from the Wisdom literature, “You love all things that are created and loathe nothing.” 

   Looking at this tendency of people despising what they don’t understand, we might feel inclined to judge such actions as less than good, but the truth is, we may be guilty of the same.   In our times a very unchristian tendency seems to be afoot in the thinking that we don’t want to remember, or take blame for the sins of previous humans because, we are told, “it might make us feel bad.”

   The solution: deny that such sins as the Jewish Holocaust, or Shoah, attempts at extermination and assimilation of Native peoples in our country, and our deep-seeded racism ever happened or exists, still today.

   And yet, we have the memory of Jesus of Nazareth, who we are told in many other places in Scripture besides the story of Zacchaeus today, that Jesus wants to “know” us – a great truth that we should not miss for ourselves in this story. 

   For each of us friends, Jesus is on the look-out every day of our lives to enter in through the sorrows, the joys, the “ah-ha” moments.  We try to hide,  in safe places too, up our own “trees”—behind our names, our situations—our pain, the people we know—thinking that God won’t find us or probably doesn’t care.  And if we think that, we would be wrong.  Let me say that again—if we think that our God doesn’t care—WE WOULD BE WRONG!  All we have to do is reflect on all the Scriptures where Jesus goes out of his way to make a difference in people’s lives like today with Zacchaeus.    Because Jesus looked into Zacchaeus’ heart, Zacchaeus found the strength, the grace to change his life. 

   The easier choice is always to judge people, considering them wrong, and us right, put them in a box, and expect no more.  Jesus shows us how loving someone that we don’t agree with, can call them “to more.”

   Friends, I know for most of us, myself included, we are daily frustrated with those so-called leaders in Church and state who seem to be absolutely, “clueless” about moving out of their “safe trees” and speaking the truth about the wrongs they see as Jesus did in today’s gospel through his actions with regard to Zacchaeus.  Too many today, claiming to be “Christians,” and shame on any of us who do claim this awesome title, but play it safe by never following through in our actions!

   Paul, in his letter to the Thessalonians in today’s 2^nd reading, says it well, “We pray constantly that our God will make you worthy of the call.”  In a homily from last Sunday, Pope Leo gave us some pointers toward being more “Christian” in our world:

• No one is called to dominate, but all are called to serve.
• [Act] “not [with] power, but with love.”
• [We need] “a more humble Church.”
• [restless hearts should be] “in love with LOVE”

   So, friends, let us each pray that we might be, every day, more worthy, through our actions, of being labeled, “a Christian” in our world.    Amen? Amen!

My friends, Ordinary Time is beginning to wind down and within a few short weeks, the end of the Church Year will be upon us and the beginning of a new Church Year with the coming of Advent the end of November.  But before that happens, we will continue to be challenged to “be our best,” as we are today. 

   Let’s begin with the 1^st reading from the Old Testament Book of Exodus, which I think you maybe would agree, we could have skipped because of its theme of the Israelites waging war on their neighbors and the fact that our God appears to be supporting this action.  And upon reflection, we might be thinking that “this God” doesn’t sound like the God of our brother, Jesus, who in fact, we believe, becomes “the Christ,” Jesus that is – a God big enough for all, a God surpassing all religions. 

   Even so, exegetes tell us not to skip this 1^st reading, but to look deeper than just the surface story of humans going to war against each other.  And, in our own reality, we are aware of too much war and fighting in our world today, among the Israelites and the Palestinians – not yet fully settled, among the Ukrainians and the Russians, and we long for the ability among all these humans to seek after peace. 

   I mentioned exegetes telling us, “Not to skip this 1^st reading, and to “cut the people writing this story, a break” because they didn’t yet “know Jesus as we do, to show them the way.”  Thus, my friends, going deeper, the psalm refrain for today is a better, higher perhaps message to hold onto, “Our help is from God who made heaven and earth” – and that coupled with our knowledge of Jesus’ life among us, does more clearly, show us the way.  In other words, no matter what life brings, God will be there for us! 

   And this notion then moves us nicely into Paul’s letter to Timothy in the 2^nd reading, “preach the Word…stay with the task whether [it is] convenient or inconvenient…never losing patience.” 

   And finally, in Luke’s gospel, Jesus’ words are both an encouragement and a challenge, “[pray] always and [do not] lose heart,” – persist – persevere.  It seems that Jesus is saying, in the story of the unjust judge, “if a person who cares little can do good, how much more will our God do, for those who ask?” – this God who loves us beyond all imagining!

   So then, if we were looking for an overall theme in the readings, “persistence,” exegetes say should be the theme that unites all of the Scripture choices today. Along with persistence, perseverance is a quality we Christians should strive after.  While the two words are similar, perseverance is a “step up” in that it comes into play when what we strive to accomplish, like “justice for all,” becomes very difficult. 

   “Persistence,” is continuing an action consistently, for whatever purpose.  A recent article in the Winona Daily News about the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration who have been praying in Lacrosse, Wisconsin for 147 years all day and all night for the rest of us would be an example of persistence. 

   An example of “perseverance” would be the Monday night demonstrations in Winona, Minnesota asking for “justice for all,” in a climate that at times is quite depressing.  The postcard writers on every Thursday morning in Winona is also an example of this “perseverance” in troubling times. One could perhaps argue that the FSPAs in Lacrosse are not only persistent, but that they persevere in praying for all of us humans that we will one day strive more wholeheartedly toward being our best selves. 

   Along these lines, I would like to lift up Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author of Women Who Run With the Wolves, whom I consider her to be “a friend for the journey” even though I have never met her, because she was the 1^st woman writer that I discovered back 30 years ago in my own personal journey, who was putting into words what I had believed for so long about the equal natures of women and men, and that the voices of women were simply not being heard. 

   Clarissa names our perseverance to stay at a task until it is completed, especially when it is about, “justice for all,” “soul-showing.”  She has this to say about becoming “disappointed/discouraged” by the meanness, selfishness and greed that we may see in our world:

    “There will always be times when you feel discouraged.  I too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it.  I will not entertain it.  It is not allowed to eat from my plate.  The reason is this: In my uttermost bones, I know something, as do you.  It is that there can be no despair when you remember why you came to earth, who you serve, and who sent you here.  The good words we say and the good deeds we do are not ours.  They are the words and deeds of the One who brought us here.” I too,  often find myself feeling, very humbly, that the words I give you each week are not mine alone, but given me by the Spirit of our good God.

   My friends, I am not sure I could have said from my heart all that Clarissa Pinkola Estes said here from hers, but I know that I am mightily challenged by her words!  In that spirit then, in a world that needs each of us every day to persevere in good, truth and justice—basically, love, in broad strokes, I invite us all to consider these final words from her: “When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt [and most of us want to be here – safe].

 “But [she says], that is not what great ships are built for!”  Perhaps when we are most discouraged, and we can’t see, as the psalmist says today, that “our God is with us,”  maybe the “gift we get” is simply the strength to “hold on,” doing the good we do. And friends, whatever good we can do is so very important – not just for us and the people we can help, but as an example to others to know they are not alone, and to do the same!  Amen? Amen!