Friends, I was reminded today, that I didn’t share my homily as usual to the web yesterday. All I can say is that I was coming off a long, lovely weekend of Thanksgiving with family, and the first snowstorm of the season that caused us to cancel Mass due to wanting to keep people save….have a good week! Pastor Kathy

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My friends, those of you who have been part of our parish for a while have heard me say over the years that I love the Season of Advent, and for the newer folks, now you have heard it too!  I think a part of why I love this season is that it calls us to be counterculture, slowing a bit at a time that is all about rushing.  Enter Advent, and the call to balance – to slowing down so as not to miss the true joy that Christmas time can bring. 

   I am of course talking about our culture’s tendency to rush Christmas’ coming – which can be so wonderful that we can’t wait!  Advent, almost a full four weeks this year, gives us the time to prepare well, a step at a time.  Having just finished a Church Year that at its end gave us opportunity to ask, “How did we do this year in basically, being our best, and how might we like to do better this next year?”

   I personally find what helps me most in getting ready for Christmas is a balance between what I will call “Advent things and Christmas things,” and they do overlap a bit.  The Advent preparation might be as simple as reading the Sunday Scriptures and then thinking on how the themes found in the gospel stories for instance affect us here and now.

• Mary traveling to be with her aunt Elizabeth to both comfort her in her pregnancy come late in life, and Mary’s search for belief and confirmation in the miracle that has befallen her.
• John the Baptist’s journey “finding a straight path in the wilderness of life,” not unlike our own personal searches for meaning and truth. 
• Joseph and his seemingly dashed dreams of fulfillment – something we all experience in life from time to time.

     All these stories my friends are only meaningful if we let them become so –if we try to see how they are like our own stories. 

   In the beginning I mentioned that it is important to prepare, little by little for a big event.  Perhaps a personal story will make this clearer.  About a month ago, Robert and I were visiting our son Isaac and daughter-in-law, Lauren. She and I came upon a wonderful sounding recipe for Pecan Cream Pie.  Since we were there for a long weekend, we decided to make this treat that comes right out of the Amish Cookbook which tells you immediately that it would be very rich in ingredients. 

   There were several steps in making this wonderful treat and Lauren and I decided to split up the sections to make it easier and go quicker. “Cutting to the chase” so to speak, this recipe needed much fine-tuning, it wasn’t something you could rush – each step had to be done in order to make it turn out. 

   It took us most of the day from reading the lengthy recipe to actually doing each part.  We decided that the recipe was poorly written and because we wanted to make it for Thanksgiving, I would rewrite the recipe and we would tag-team on it, each doing a part as was suggested, slowing it down.  Taking our time made it come together in a much better way.

   Advent calls us to this kind of slowing down, not rushing to the joy that Christmas time brings before we have really prepared.  Anything that is really important takes time to bring about –I think of awaiting a new baby, studying to earn a degree that may lead to a job, and so on.  I find that sending out Christmas cards and letters helps me do this slowing down, connecting with many that I only do, once a year.  For others, it may be something else.

   The Scriptures for today speak of  “dark and light;” encouraging us to move, evermore toward “the light.”  It is an interesting concept, here in the Midwest, as we live, at this time of year more in physical “darkness,” than light. 

   Isaiah, in today’s 1^st reading encourages [walking] “in the light of our God.”  And to him this would mean, “not [raising] the sword against another, nor [training] “for war again.”

   In a better world, can we imagine a time when “we train for peace, instead of war?”  Many times, we find that after long wars end, conflicts still remain – all too true in our world today.  From Alcoholics Anonymous comes the following wisdom –  “to keep doing the same thing, expecting a different result, is the definition of insanity.”

   Paul in his letter to the Romans says basically, [it’s time] “to wake from sleep.”  Matthew’s gospel for today tells us to “be prepared.”  Had we met today, we would have sung that prayer at the beginning of Mass. 

   Isaiah’s mention today of God’s home being on a “high mountain,” exegetes tell us is not so much about a place, but more so about us, as God’s people working evermore to be about love – a higher good – as opposed to hate in our lives.

   Dan Schutte, former active Jesuit priest and composer, who in recent years has given on-line retreats said of Advent [it’s all] “about joy, as God created us for this.”  He too though, speaks of preparing well – “There is always more in us that needs light shed upon it.”  And he concludes that thought with, “All who choose to accept the light, share it and spread it.”  As we said last week, it is not enough to say, “Here I am,” but, “we are ready” to do our part to make our world better. 

   A final thought as we begin this holy season – Advent really calls us, “to be aware” of all that is around us, over and above the upset and distrust, even meanness which may be around us.  Having just celebrated Thanksgiving, hopefully you found much, or at least, some things to be grateful for.  And that brings us back to awareness and not rushing through life.  George Carlan I think said it well. [It’s] “ not the number of breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away!”  Awareness – my friends, preparation, and joy!  Amen? Amen!

   My friends, in most Catholic and Christian churches today, except for ours,  you would hear that we are celebrating the feast of, “Christ the King.”  Here, we name this feast, Jesus, the Christ, our Brother and Friend, and we do that for a definitive reason – Jesus never claimed to be a “king” and never wanted that title.  This Church feast is, in fact, just 100 years old this year! 

   Pope Pius XI, in 1925, established this feast as he felt that Catholics were forgetting about Jesus and that this feast would re-establish his place in our lives.  It is too bad that the emphasis was in “Jesus’ power over us” rather than uplifting his life and encouraging us humans to “walk in his footsteps.” 

   So, as always, let’s look at the Scriptures.  Each selection today speaks in one way or another about what the people, in the times of the book of Samuel in the Old Testament, Paul in the New Testament, and in the gospel of Luke would expect from a would-be king or leader. 

   In the 1^st reading from Samuel, the people come to David, their would-be king and ruler and tell him that he will “shepherd” them – an interesting take and connection to David’s earlier occupation of “shepherd to the sheep” – now he will “shepherd” people.  The peoples’ response is “Here we are” [!]

   As an aside, in the early days of Roman Catholic Women Priests ordinations, many of us, me included, placed the words, “Here we are,” on banners, and added, “We are ready” as our statement of faith in what God was doing within us. 

   These words, “Here we are” seem appropriate today, indicating that in response to our baptisms, not only are “we here,” but that, “we are ready” to do our part.

   As we think about David and his call, “to shepherd” his people, we realize another of the reasons for using the right, perhaps more correct names for our leaders.  There is the human tendency to, “take power,” if we are given it, and “run with it,” forgetting “why” this power was entrusted to us in the 1^st place.  If we recall the story of David, we remember that he forgot “to shepherd,” for a time, and opted for “reigning,” as in “king,” instead, until he once again found his way. 

   It is interesting in this light, to consider the term, “reverend,” a term that many priests, both male and female use as a title.  “Reverend” comes from the Latin, reverendus, meaning [one who is] to be revered/must be respected.  For me, it seems that, just because “one is ordained,” doesn’t mean they should automatically, “be respected,”  but rather, by their actions. 

   And for that reason, I use the title, “pastor,” as it continuallly reminds me, to try “to pastor” folks, not “rule them.”  A small example to this point is of a newly ordained male back a few years ago who told me that he “demanded” that his parishioners call him, “Father” – it always struck me that his stance of “demanding,” was all wrong. 

   The second reading from Paul to the Colossians shows us his relationship to Jesus, as, “the Christ” – as this was the only way Paul knew Jesus, as they had never met as humans, one to the other.  If we reflect on “the Christ” as theologians and Franciscans, Sister Ilia Delio and Father Richard Rohr speak of Jesus, we realize, “this” Christ is a “big enough” God for all believers, “a Cosmic Christ,” yet Paul’s understanding is more narrow –Paul’s “Christ” is one who came “to save us from our sins” “through Jesus’ death on the cross,” as he speaks of it in today’s 2^nd reading, as if that was the only reason for Jesus becoming human.  We know today from modern exegesis that in one sense, Jesus did “come to save us,” but, in a larger sense, “from ourselves,” by showing us, “the way” to live and to love. 

   In Luke’s gospel selection for today, it is clear that the soldiers ridiculing Jesus as he dies, didn’t understand either why he came.  Interestingly though, one of the men dying alongside him did! “This one has done nothing wrong” [as he spoke of Jesus’ earthly life of justice, mercy, compassion and love for us humans.

   The fact is, though, what he said about Jesus is not entirely true—that “Jesus had done nothing wrong.”  In the eyes of the powers-that-were in Jesus’ time—he had done plenty wrong! Jesus was advocating that the leaders deal out justice for all, especially the least among them, and criticizing them for not being the “servants” that true kings and leaders should be.  The only way to silence such a one, or so they thought, was the punishment that Jesus was suffering. 

   So, my friends, if we are to be true followers of our brother Jesus, then we cannot get caught up in the theology “that God sent Jesus to die for our sins.”  If we stay there, then Jesus “does” it all—there is nothing for us to do, but live, without ever questioning, never looking at ourselves, never taking the responsibility for our own actions and doing our part. 

   Jesus came to show us how to live our human experience in the best way.  Sometimes that may get us into trouble, as it did Jesus, but we are expected as his followers to get out into our world, in the midst of the sometimes mess we find there, as in our present time, and to do our part to make things better.  Jesuit and social activist in the 1980s, Dan Berrigan, was known to have said,  “If you want to follow Jesus, you better look good on wood!” 

   In conclusion then, let’s home in on Jesus’ true mission for each of us—anything that isn’t ultimately about attempting to be our best through kindness, mercy, and justice for all, including ourselves—basically about love, should not be wasting our time.  And you will notice that I included, “ourselves,” as we can’t be there for others if we forget ourselves. It’s a balance.

   So, also as we said last week in concluding another, Year of Grace, this “being a Christian” isn’t easy – it will at times call us to some hard decisions, most likely, not “crucifixion,” but sometimes standing alone, even among family and friends.  But we must remember that we have strong shoulders to stand on in our brother and friend, Jesus, the Christ!” Amen? Amen!

My friends, I don’t know about you, but I have always appreciated having a new start.  I love the change of seasons that we experience here in Minnesota – the new life that spring affords us – I never quite get over the mystery and miracle of how each year, new, little, green buds pop out of ground just very recently frozen.  Then the continued growth of flowers and vegetables to labor over, and to enjoy – the harvest, and then the shutting down of all growing things, and a much-needed rest, of which we are upon now.  

   The Church Year follows a somewhat same journey through time which I likewise appreciate and am grateful for.  With today, the last Sunday in Ordinary Time, and next week, a feast to celebrate Jesus, the Christ, our brother, friend, and model, hopefully, that we pattern our own lives after, we will end another Church Year of grace. 

   The holy season of Advent begins then on November 30^th, and we are into a new Church Year.  But I am getting ahead of myself…Let’s look then at today’s readings.  There seems to be an urgency in all of them, to, simply put, as I always say, “be our best.”  We are encouraged to basically, “take a look,” to see how we are doing.  We might ask, “could we be accused and convicted, for being a Christian? – would there be enough evidence?  Not to be too dramatic though, we  are encouraged to look  into our lives to see where possible change may be needed. Perhaps we may not be doing “anything wrong,” but again, would others be able to know, looking at our actions, that we are Jesus’ followers? Not an easy task, and in our present day world, so much injustice to address.

   A very good friend to Robert and I over the years since I was ordained started out as my religion instructor in my freshman year at Cotter High School, Jim Fitzpatrick, who was then an active diocesan priest.  After ten years in ministry, he became aware of the sexual abuse of minors that was happening among some of his brother priests.  He took his knowledge to the bishop, who basically did nothing.  Jim, being the moral person that he was, left active ministry over this issue and through the rest of his life, along with his wife, Karen, was “active” in new and different ways, being true to his call to follow his brother Jesus.  I think he and she could be accused and convicted of being Christians. 

   Sometimes, many times, our faith calls us to being, “more than,” “just good.”  Sometimes, we must be about “good trouble,” as John Lewis said. 

   When I think of Jim Fitzpatrick, who stood not much more than 5 feet in height, I marvel at the attention he was able to get in our lowly group of beginning high schoolers.  When we didn’t seem to produce the answers quick enough or with enough interest, he used to exclaim, “C’mon, catch fire!” 

   Our national group of bishops “caught fire” this past week in their quite strong statement against the treatment of immigrants by the powers-that-be in our country. Now, if they just continue the “good words” with sustained action demanding change, that will be good!  The past couple of days, I was with a group of my sister and brother Cojourners at Assisi Heights in Rochester, home of the Franciscan Sisters there. Cojourners are lay folks who attempt in their lives to live Franciscan values alongside the sisters. We spent many good hours trying to understand, and decide, how we may continue to not only exist, but be vibrant in our world, once the sisters have all gone home to God.

   So, my friends, these readings today, as we are winding down another Church Year, are instructing us as Paul did the Thessalonians in today’s 2^nd reading, “to be concerned about giving good example.”  Paul puts it rather bluntly today, “If you do not work, you should not eat.” Now there are those in power today who would agree with that,but that is because they and Paul are applying a black and white solution to an often very gray problem.  If someone is lazy, well then fine, but if someone is incapable of work, that is another thing. I would probably soften Paul’s words to say, rather, “get your heart in the right place!”  None of us can do all, but all of us can do something to make our world better. 

   Our brother Jesus gives us some pointers in today’s gospel from Luke at what “our walk in his footsteps” will be like –words good to heed, I think:  “Take care not to be misled,” you will suffer for my name.”  In speaking with many of you, I know you suffer the estrangement of family members ands friends, because your morals don’t allow you to accept the rhetoric and tone of many in our country today – if your heart won’t allow you to agree and those who may have supported you in the past, no longer do, our brother Jesus understands that from personal experience in his world,  and he encourages, “patient endurance” or we might say, “keep on keeping on.”

   When our friend Jim Fitzpatrick died, many, including us attended his Celebration of Life, now 6 years ago.  Another of his students, a religious sister who gave the homily, spoke of Jim’s favorite Scripture passage – that of the Transfiguration wherein Jesus takes his apostles, Peter, James and John up a mountain and he shows himself to them in a different way as he appeared alongside Moses and Elijah. 

   What Jim loved about this passage were Peter’s impetuous and spontaneous words, to what he was seeing, “It is good for us to be here!”  Evidently, the only time in Scripture that we hear these words about “it being good that we, each of us, is here!   Jim Fitzpatrick took these words, “the goodness of his being here” to heart, knowing that Jesus was calling him to make a difference. 

   At the beginning of November, the Church celebrated, “All Saints Day,” a day we remember so many who have gone on before us, who made a difference.  Perhaps you have a favorite saint or two.  I always take great joy in thinking of my patron saint, Catherine of Siena, who took issue not only with bishops, but with the pope too for not being their best. An aside, if you don’t know how to find your patron saint, and perhaps there is more than one, as in my case, with Catherine, you would take the one closest to your birthday.  If there is only one saint with your name, then it is easy.  I also like to add, every day, ordinary people, like many in our own personal lives, are saints too, uncanonized, but saints just the same. 

   So, my friends, tying this all together, being a follower of our brother Jesus, is far from an easy task if we are truly “walking” with him, but the hope is always, with each passing day, each passing Church Year, we can begin again, making a difference.

   And when it comes right down to it – it really is, “all about love!”  Most Monday evenings since March of this year, I have stood on the corner of Main and Broadway along with approximately 100 or more others advocating for a better world. Robert is on my left, and two older, sweet ladies are on my right somewhat comfortably seated, doing the same.  This past week, one of them said, “being here maybe doesn’t make much of a difference, but I get hope that I am doing something,”  especially when cars go by honking approval. I told them, “Ladies, we are walking the talk!”  We don’t always know what seeds we are planting…

   Teilhard de Chardin said it better and even though I have shared these words before, I think they are a fitting way to end today:   “Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love.  Then, for the second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire.”  And again, Jim Fitzpatrick would say, “C’mon, catch fire!”  Amen? Amen! 

My friends, if you follow the Sunday Scriptures closely, you may have noticed that again this week I didn’t use the chosen feast, that of, The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, which we celebrate about every seven years on a Sunday, when November 9^th falls on a Sunday.  As I looked at the chosen Scriptures for this feast, which calls us through readings from the prophets, Ezekiel, Saint Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, and Jesus in the gospel of John, to respect and treasure the temple, with our brother Jesus clearly telling us in John that he, Jesus, basically, “is the only temple that we should treasure,” I felt that clear idea could be woven into the Scriptures for the 32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time and added upon, as Jesus always wants us to go deeper.

   So, turning to the 32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, we see the virtue of faith being uplifted in the Old Testament reading from Maccabees, where we come face-to-face with what seven brothers are willing to endure to remain faithful to their God at the hands of their Greek captors. 

   At first glance this reading may seem to some as an unusual choice because of the violence that it depicts, and we may ask why?  The “good,” if we can use that word, comes when we take the next step, beyond the violence, to understand why the brothers are willing to endure what they do.  Because they – each, believed so strongly in the God who made a covenant with their people, “to be their God, and they would be God’s people,” they received the courage to stand strong in the face of ignorance, and cruel violence.  These brothers knew that there was more than this life, and that basically, God would more than give back anything they may have lost in their earthly journeys.

   The times in which we live my friends, have shown us an uptick in this same kind of ignorance and cruel violence around our world.  Many days for me, and I know this is true for you as well, I wonder how much more evil that shows itself in the form of greed, selfishness, and lack of concern for the common good, we can endure. 

   One of the lessons of the Maccabees’ reading that we should see, and lay upon our hearts, is the counsel, “to not become what we abhor.”  Those of you who demonstrate on Monday evenings with placards asking for better in our country than what we are seeing at present, are sometimes abused by violent reactions from some driving by  — loud cars and other abusive gestures. We must always remember not to react in like manner. 

   Paul, in his letter to the Thessalonians encourages his converts to pray that they be “delivered from confused and evil persons” – a worthy prayer for all of us too, it would seem.  Paul goes on to pray, “may the Spirit rule in your hearts.”  This reminds me of the Christian Brothers’ Prayer that Jim Hanzel, a former Christian brother, and member of All Are One pray each time we are together – “Live Jesus in our hearts forever.”  In my years as a chaplain, and now as a pastor, I routinely encourage people in times of trouble, when seemingly the path forward doesn’t appear clear, to simply utter the name of “Jesus” – there is, I know from personal experience, great strength in his name. 

   The story we heard today in Luke’s gospel about another seven brothers who attempt to “give” the same woman children, in turn upon the death of a previous brother who failed, is one that ties together well, I think, the two feasts we are considering today, that of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica and the 32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.  As with so many issues that Jesus comments on in Scripture, encouraging people to see “a bigger picture,” this gospel from Luke is no exception. 

   The teller of the story wonders out loud whose wife the woman will be in eternity as all have married her.  And even though we may smile at this story, having off spring was of great importance in Jesus’ time, especially for women, and here it would be to have a son who could care for and support a mother if widowed, who had no power in this society, but that she was connected to a man.   But again, Jesus must direct his hearers to a greater message – life in eternity will be different – all will be cared for, all will be equal, somehow, in the embrace of a Loving God. 

   You may be wondering why an annual feast celebrating a basilica that sometimes falls on a Sunday, and when it does, is so important that it takes precedence over the regular Sunday feast.  When Constantine made Christianity the state religion in 312 CE, Christians received, through the gift of this basilica, which has grown over time, a place to publicly worship, and pray, which in the first few centuries, they didn’t have.

   There is, always, as we all know, the danger of making material things more important than spiritual things and I believe it is for this reason that all the readings for this Dedication of the Lateran Basilica point not to the “material building,” but to the temple, which is Jesus, the Christ, living within each of us.  Again, when too much emphasis is placed on the “material” temple, there is the danger of losing sight of the spiritual temple that exists within each of us, within all of creation, really.  Paul said it in the letter to the Corinthians – “Don’t you realize that you are God’s temple”?!  He says further, “Jesus, the Christ” lays the foundation” [!]

   The seven brothers in the Maccabees reading, even well before our brother Jesus lived, had a sense of this awesome reality – that they were God’s temples, and that is why they had the strength to give their lives to uplift the importance of answering to a higher power. 

   So my friends, when times are tough in our own lives, we need to realize that life brings both good and not so good, tyrants come and go, but by holding onto our core values, attempting each day, to be our best, we will be true to our baptisms, saying, “yes” to who we follow, not merely the “material” temples of this world, but more so, the temples that exist in each person, in all of creation. 

   And because we all love a good story, I will end with one. Steve Hartman, CBS commentator and producer of the On the Road series this past Friday shared the story of a 6-year-old girl named Marion from Springfield, Massachusetts, who took it upon herself to help save an endangered salamander, the axolotl. She felt, it was her responsibility to do so . The axolotl, it turns out, can reproduce its limbs, if for any reason, it loses them.  Scientists from Harvard have been studying how axolotls do this in the hopes that we humans can learn how to do the same when they lose limbs. Harvard sadly, lost its funding for this project in the spring, so enter 6- year-old Marion to help—she made a power point and established a fundraiser, which brought in $1,000. Steve, in talking to Marion, wanted to know why this was important for her to do. She said, it wasn’t just because the axolotl “is cute,” but because it can grow again any of its body limbs! –she felt that even though many animals are endangered, “it was her destiny” to save this one.  The female scientist at Harvard interviewed, and her colleagues were given great hope not in the amount of the gift (and their funding was later reinstated), but in the size of the giver—that someone so small could care so much!

   So, there you have it friends, each of us doing our part, recognizing the “temples” where we find them, and as we heard here, even in an animal, one, I had never heard of   before! Amen? Amen!

    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!