Daily Gospel Reflection
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November 19, 2024
At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.
Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
who was about to pass that way.
When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said,
“Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house.”
And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they saw this, they began to grumble, saying,
“He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.”
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
“Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,
and if I have extorted anything from anyone
I shall repay it four times over.”
And Jesus said to him,
“Today salvation has come to this house
because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save what was lost.”
The evangelist tells us that Zacchaeus sought “to see who Jesus was.” Why? Was it faith and hope that Jesus was the Messiah? Or, conversely, was it doubt? Was he simply drawn to the crowd out of curiosity? As Zacchaeus was climbing the tree, did he plan to call out to Jesus or just to let him pass by? Was he filled with joy? Nervousness? Embarrassment?
Today’s gospel reading is intentionally and delightfully vague. It shows us that no matter when or why we seek to know the Lord, he surprises us with his love. When we feel furthest from Jesus, he calls us by name and insists on staying with us. This is the beautiful reality of being among God’s chosen sons and daughters! Though, like Zacchaeus, we are sinners in the eyes of the world, the Lord does not see us as the world sees us. Jesus comes to save the lost.
In the face of God’s infinite love, our challenge is to accept his love into our lives and return it to him. Zacchaeus gave away half his possessions and made reparations for his wrongs four times over. We, too, can find the strength to do great works in the sureness and comfort of God’s love.
I pray that, like Zacchaeus, our hearts may be struck by God’s love. May it transform us to be more like Christ who sacrificed himself to save us.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, come, stay at our house! Interrupt our lives. Turn everything upside down! Rouse us out of our humdrum torpor, our apathy, our complacency. Surprise us with your nearness so much so that we, like Zacchaeus, will climb the tallest tree just to get the slightest glimpse of your face. Prepare our hearts to receive you with love. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Raphael Kalinowski had a brilliant mind and a faithful heart that he used to spread the faith in Poland at the end of the 1800s. He survived ten years in a labor camp in Siberia before becoming a Carmelite priest.
He was born in 1835 to a noble family in Vilnius—his father taught mathematics and served as superintendent of the local boarding school for nobles. Raphael attended this school and graduated with honors in 1850.
Opportunities for further education were limited, so Raphael joined the Russian army that he might study at an engineering academy. He later was assigned as professor of mathematics at the academy, and helped to design railroads.
He was promoted to captain, but his heart was with the oppressed Poles of his homeland. He resigned from the army and joined resistance efforts, helping to lead a major uprising. He was captured and sentenced to die by firing squad. When his family intervened, Russian authorities feared that if they killed him, he would inspire more trouble as a political martyr. They sentenced him to ten years in a Siberian labor camp instead.
Over the course of nine months, he was forcibly marched to a labor camp in Siberia—many did not survive the journey, but Raphael had a hidden strength, and became a leader to other prisoners. He labored in salt mines there for ten years.
After his release, he returned to Poland, and became a tutor to the young prince, August Czartoryski. The prince suffered from tuberculosis, and Raphael accompanied him as he sought medical treatment and favorable climates; he had a profound influence on the young man’s life. The prince eventually became a priest and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004.
Throughout his travels, Raphael became aware of the Russian persecution of the Church and of the people of his homeland. He entered a community of Carmelites in 1877 and was ordained a priest five years later. His leadership skills were recognized, and he was named superior of the community. He went on to found a number of new monasteries throughout Poland.
Raphael died of tuberculosis at the age of 72 in Wadowice, Poland—the same town in which Pope John Paul II was born in 14 years later. His tomb became a place of pilgrimage—so many people would take handfuls of dirt from his grave that the nuns who oversaw the cemetery had to continually replace the earth and plants there.
Pope John Paul II counted Raphael as one of his boyhood heroes, and canonized him a saint in 1991—the first member of this Carmelite community to be named a saint since its founder, St. John of the Cross.
St. Raphael Kalinowski, you were the hero of Pope John Paul II who survived a Siberian labor camp to spread the faith in Poland—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Raphael Kalinowski is used with permission from Catholic Online. Last accessed October 18, 2024.
