Tuesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time I

November 21, 2023 – Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Hello and welcome to the Word, bringing you the Good News of Jesus Christ every day from the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province. I am Fr. Karl Esker from the Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, NY. Today is Tuesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time and the Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Today’s reading from the holy gospel according to Luke

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 gospel of the Lord.

Homily

The memorial of the presentation of Mary is an attempt to imagine the joy with which Joachim and Ana received their daughter Mary and how they offered her to God to do the Lord’s will. I am sure there were some relatives who were not pleased that Ana had given birth to a daughter instead of a son. But we believe that all things work for the good of those who follow the will of the Lord. They had no way of knowing that God had chosen Mary to be the mother of the Redeemer, to give human flesh to God’s only Son.

The reading from the second book of Maccabees presents one of the Jewish heroes during the Greek persecution. This old man, named Eleazar, preferred to offer himself up to death in fidelity to God and as an example for the young people, rather than go against the Law of Moses. His Greek friends thought him a fool, and kept offering him ways to save his life, but he refused; and proclaimed that he was suffering torture with joy in his soul, because of his devotion to God.

In the gospel we hear Jesus invite himself to the house of Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector in Jericho. Zacchaeus had done something extraordinary. He wanted to see Jesus, but could not see over the crowd, because he was too short. So, he ran ahead and climbed a tree along Jesus’ path. Jesus recognized his longing, so when he arrived at the place, he calls up to him: "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house."

Zacchaeus received him with joy and offered to give half his wealth to the poor and to make amends if he had defrauded anyone. Of course, there were those in the crowd who began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner." But Jesus declared: "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."

God’s ways often leave us confused, and if we listen to the nay-sayers, we will quickly become discouraged. We need to recognize God’s presence and grace in our lives, as did Ana and Joachim, Eleazar and Zacchaeus, and offer ourselves in service to God. We echo the psalmist’s prayer: “you, O LORD, are my shield; my glory, you lift up my head!” Our heads are raised, not to look down on others, but to recognize the grace of God in our lives. It is this presence of Christ Jesus in our lives that gives them meaning, and permits a feeling of peace and joy even in difficult times. We can follow the way of the Lord, “because the Lord sustains me.”

May God bless you.

Fr. Karl E. Esker CSsR

Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help

Brooklyn, NY