Category Archives: Year C

Homily for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

By | | ,
Comments Off on Homily for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
There’s a lot of seeking going on in today’s Gospel. Zacchaeus, a rich tax collector, was seeking Our Lord, going so far as to climb a tree to see Him. Our Lord tells us that He came “to seek and to save what was lost.” With this talk of Zacchaeus and Our Lord seeking and finding what they were looking for, we should ask ourselves, “What are we seeking for?”
In our lives, there’s always something we’re seeking. We’re always looking for something different or something we feel is missing from our lives. We might not be able to put into words what we’re looking for, but there’s always a desire that we can’t quite seem to quench totally. We can fulfill it temporarily by buying more stuff or entering into a new relationship or friendship, but it never goes completely away.
What we’re seeking, though imperfectly, is the true joy that comes from unity with God, our Heavenly Father. In the deepest part of our souls, we realize that none of us are ever perfectly content in this life. Yes, things and other people can provide temporary satisfaction and emotional happiness for a time, but this satisfaction and happiness is fleeting compared to the fulfillment and joy that comes, in the words of St. Paul, when “the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.”
While this true fulfillment and joy comes from receiving Jesus with joy, as Zacchaeus did, we can become lost in our seeking and convince ourselves that the fleeting satisfaction and happiness that comes through the world are enough. We can convince ourselves that we no longer need to seek for God, and turn our focus on the things of the world.
While we might turn away from God, no longer seeking Him, He does not give up on us. Instead, Our Lord seeks after us, inviting us to join him, just as he did with Zacchaeus. God truly does love us, and wants what is best for us, as the first reading says, “For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.” God created us out of love, and gave us His Son to show us the path for our lives that is best for us.
Because God loves us, He wants us to return to Him whenever we stray. As the Book of Wisdom says, “you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people’s sins that they may repent.” When we turn away from God and seek the fleeting satisfaction and happiness in the world, we easily fall into the trap of sinful actions and desires. To pull us out of this trap, God “rebukes offenders little by little, warning them and reminding them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O Lord.”
This rebuke is not God being vindictive or done out of spite, but rather out of love. God rebukes us just as a parent might discipline a child out of love. A parent who truly loves their children would never allow a child to do wrong without some form of punishment. This punishment is given out of the parents’ love and desire to care for their children.
In the same way, God truly loves us and wants us to have everything that is right and good for us. His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ is constantly seeking for us, calling us back to Him when we go astray. In response, we need to make St. Paul’s prayer our own: “that our God may make you worthy of His calling and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.” May we be able to pray that daily, and to constantly seek after His face.