If you’re looking to have a bummer of a day, go look up statistics regarding
religious observance in the United States, specifically in the Catholic Church. You can see a steep decline pretty much across the board, and some of the demographics staring us in the face are alarming. Much has been made of it in the lead up to Beacons of Light and ensuring that we are prepared to minister to the Church we actually live in, and not simply carry on as though nothing has changed. But to my mind, I am not as surprised that we have so few people compared to fifty years ago as I am that we still have as many people coming to Church as we do. That might sound harsh, but sometimes I look at the state
of the Church in America and I see a shaky foundation that is built on a great many things but rarely focused on Christ.

Before everyone gets their pitchforks, I want to clarify something. I am a huge fan of the Catholic subcultures that grow up around the practice of the Faith. I’m glad we have CYO sports, fish fries, etc., and I have benefited from them while growing up Catholic. But all those things are meant to be secondary at best, and if theyreplace the true reason for being Catholic, they are a distraction or worse. They are fruits of community that spring forth from a healthy church, not our reason for existence. All of this is to say that Zaccheus, in today’s Gospel, would not have dropped everything, climbed a tree, and pledged to change literally everything in his life that gave him wealth and prosperity because someone gave him the chance to play in a Catholic men’s softball league or something. He sincerely pledged to change his life, and I cannot stress this enough, because he had a personal encounter with Jesus. Every other reason for doing something that drastic is, to use a technical term, just plain dumb.
 
 Whenever I meet someone who is completely sold out for the Gospel and living for Jesus Christ, I ask them what happened in their life to make this their priority. I want to know what their Zaccheus moment was. Sometimes people are at complete and total rock bottom, and they finally open themselves up to what Our Lord has in store for them. Sometimes they have a profound experience of beauty and transcendence, perhaps in the liturgy, and    they start looking for something beyond what they’ve experienced in their lives. And sometimes, as is the case with Zaccheus, the Lord broke through their own perception of unworthiness, and they felt called, chosen, and seen for the first time. Maybe for Zaccheus, he was so used to being hated for his job that Jesus coming to Him as a friend was enough to shatter all the things that stopped him from living an honest life. In any case, living life as a disciple of Jesus always starts with just that: Jesus. There are no other legitimate reasons to give ourselves so completely and totally to this life, other than recognizing God’s love for us and wanting to give it back to Him as well as share it with others.
 
This week, as we hear this beautiful story of Jesus sharing mercy and compassion with someone who seemed like he didn’t deserve it, take a moment to think about what that moment is for you. Dwell in that moment, and remember that God has called and chosen you to take part in His mission. If nothing comes to mind, know that God is still searching for you, wanting to take all the shallow parts of our lives and give us incredible depth of discipleship. Just as He called Zaccheus and entered into his home, so too does He call us out of the fringes to love us, equip us, and send us out to share the Gospel.
 
Prayers always,
Fr. McC