(Thirty-first Sunday of the Year (C): This homily was given
on November 3, 2019 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond
Suriani. Read Wisdom 11:22-12:2; Psalm
145:1-14; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2; Luke 19:1-10.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Thirty-first Sunday 2019]
If a particular person invites himself into your home, you
will probably either be very happy or very angry. It all depends on the quality of your
relationship with the person. If you
like him, you’ll be happy; if you don’t like him, you’ll be angry and annoyed.
But if Jesus Christ
invites himself into your home, you should definitely feel happy, honored and
thankful—like Zacchaeus did when Jesus called him down from the sycamore tree
in Jericho and said to him, “Zacchaeus, today I must stay at your house.”
Of course, the real question is: Once Jesus entered your
home and actually began to interact with you and with your family, how would HE
feel? Would he feel at home? Would he feel welcome? Would he feel like he belonged?
That’s the issue I want to deal with today in my homily,
because in point of fact Jesus Christ DOES invite himself into your home and
mine each and every day!
I say that because the family is called the “domestic
church” in the Catechism (CCC, 2204), and the Church as a whole is called “the
Body of Christ” in Scripture. This means
that every Christian family—every “domestic church”—is a place where Jesus
wants to dwell, as he dwells in the Church as a whole.
I think it’s safe to say that Jesus did feel welcome in
Zacchaeus’ home on the day he visited him—and for a number of reasons. First of all, he probably felt that way
because he knew he was an important person to Zacchaeus. Generally speaking, people feel welcome in
your home when they know they’re important to you, when they know that they’re
special in your eyes.
Which leads to the obvious question: How important is Jesus
Christ to you and to your family? Where
is Jesus Christ on your list of priorities?
I know many families, for example, for whom the worship of Jesus at
Sunday Mass is very important—unless they’re on vacation, or unless they’re
involved in a sporting activity, or unless it’s the week of grandma’s big
birthday party.
I know families for whom the worship of Jesus at Sunday
Mass is very important—but not on holy days (like the one we had this week, All
Saints Day!). Remember, Mass attendance
on holy days is obligatory, not optional!
In all honesty, how important is Jesus to you and to the
people you live with? Is he welcome
under your roof because he’s the most important person in each of your lives?
Jesus also felt welcome in the home of Zacchaeus because
Zacchaeus talked to him! Obviously if
someone comes into your home and you don’t say a word to him while he’s there,
he probably won’t stay very long. He’ll
get the message that you really don’t want him around, and he’ll leave.
How often do you and the members of your family speak to
Jesus? Do you do it at your family
meals? Do you do it at EVERY meal? Do you pray at other times in your home
TOGETHER AS A FAMILY? I’m happy to say
that I know of certain families in this parish who pray together every single
night for 5 or 10 minutes. They offer up
personal intentions; they say a decade of the Rosary; they say a few other
prayers. It’s nothing fancy, but you can
be absolutely certain that Jesus Christ feels very much at home when that type
of activity is going on!
Jesus also felt welcome in Zacchaeus’ home because the man
sincerely repented of his sins! And as a
typical Jewish tax collector of first century Palestine, Zacchaeus no doubt had
lots and lots of sins to repent of!
Jesus felt welcome in and through Zacchaeus’ repentance because he had
come into the world specifically to forgive sins and to save human beings from
eternal death! As he himself said at the
very end of the story, “Today salvation has come to this house . . . for the
Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”
And notice that Zacchaeus expressed his sorrow by vowing to
make amends for the many wrongs he had done.
He said, “Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted
anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” Zacchaeus knew that he needed to do penance
to undo the damage—or at least some of the damage—that his sins had caused.
Jesus feels welcome whenever people sincerely repent—and
whenever they make amends. How often do
the members of your family say, “I’m sorry” to one another—and mean it? How often do they make amends to one
another? And how often do the members of
your family say they’re sorry to Jesus directly in the sacrament of Reconciliation? Parents, how often do you take your children
to Confession—and how often do you yourselves go?
Hopefully when Jesus entered Zacchaeus’ house, he didn’t
see or hear anything that upset him. I
say that because people feel welcome in a home only if they’re not scandalized or embarrassed by what they see and
hear there. Would Jesus feel welcome in
your home if he heard the way the members of your family speak to one
another? Or would the language he heard
upset him? Would he feel at ease
watching your favorite television programs with you, or listening to your favorite
music with you (all the stuff, for example, that you’ve downloaded from
iTunes)? Speaking of downloading off the
internet, would Jesus be happy sitting at your computer and viewing your
“history of visited sites” on the web?
And would he find his image prominently displayed in your
home? (I must tell you, I always feel
very welcome in homes when I find my picture on the refrigerator door! And I do from time to time! It’s a nice feeling!)
Would Jesus find an image or two of his dear Mother and his
dear friends, the saints? Or would he
find other, disturbing images on your walls and on your furniture that would
scandalize or anger him?
“Lord
Jesus, our homes are not perfect (you know that far better than we do!). None of us lives in a family in which you
find a perfect welcome all the time.
Sometimes we may put other things ahead of you; sometimes we may ignore
you by not praying as we should; sometimes we may hurt other family members and
not repent and make amends; sometimes we may fail to create a loving, holy
atmosphere in our living space. And so
today we simply ask you for the grace to help us improve. Help us to do whatever ‘remodeling’ is
necessary to make our homes, our families—our domestic churches—more welcoming
to you. Because if we can create homes
where you feel welcome, Lord Jesus, chances are everyone else who comes through
our front door will feel welcome too.
Amen.”
