Weekly Bulletin

11032019

Teach Your Children to Use GPS

After Mass today, have a conversation with your children, asking, “What do you want to be when you grow up?’ After a few moments of discussion, ask, “Who do you think God wants you to be when you grow up?” Emphasize to your children that God has a specific plan in mind for them, and that following God’s plan is the surest way to happiness. Every life decision – which college to attend, whom to date, which job to pursue, whether to enter seminary, whom to marry – should be undertaken only after praying for God’s guidance. In other words, encourage kids to navigate life using GPS – God’s Positioning System.

AN EARLY – OR LATE – CHRISTMAS

Luke’s Gospel is the source of what has become known as “the” Christmas story. Two of the major themes of Luke’s infancy narrative are joy and the coming of salvation. Zacchaeus today welcomes Jesus with joy, and Jesus announces that salvation has come. In the scene that precedes this one (we don’t hear it at Sunday Mass), salvation comes when Jesus heals a blind man just outside Jericho. Jesus has transformed the city of condemnation into one of vision and light. The presence of this Jesus is enough to remind Zacchaeus of his sins so he might, as Wisdom reminds us, abandon his wickedness and come to believe in the Lord by living an upright life. He makes promises to Jesus that his future actions will be fair and just. We never find out whether he keeps these promises, but the significance of the passage is that the faith of Abraham supersedes the condemnation of Joshua; the obstacles to grace in Zacchaeus’ life are not as important as the relentless, seeking, saving heart of the Lord, lover of souls.

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