NOVEMBER 2/3, 2019
5:00 PM (SAT), 9:00 AM (SUN) ORDINARY FORM MASSES
Born in the south central French alps in the early 17th century, French scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal was the son of a tax collector and a child prodigy. He designed and built mechanical calculators and wrote on fluid mechanics, projective geometry, and probability theory.
After his death, his philosophical and theological notes were published, titled Pensées – or Thoughts. Within this work is a philosophical argument – referred to as Pascal’s Wager – the gist of which is that an individual bets their whole life on the premise of whether or not God exists.
Pascal argues that a reasonable person should live as if God exists and foster a faith in God – since, if God does not exist one only stands to lose only limited or finite things … whereas if God does exist there are infinite and eternal gains to be had – namely Heaven … or infinite and eternal losses – namely Hell.
Today is the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time.
In todays reading from the Gospel of Luke, we hear the story of the chief tax collector Zacchaeus – who in his small efforts to see Jesus realizes that Jesus is looking for him as well.
His meeting with Christ – and subsequent repentance and conversion – turns the grumblings of the naysayers on their ears, and Our Lord proclaims:
Today salvation has come to this house …For the Son of Man has come to seeknd to save what was lost.We hear in the first reading from the Book of Wisdom about God’s mercy and love – and how even the smallest details are willed by God – and how it is within His Will that all souls repent and believe in God.
St. Paul, in the excerpt from the beginning of the Second Letter to the Thessalonians speaks of remaining steadfast in our Baptismal call and to be firm in our Faith; and not become easily unsettled by random musings.
For ourselves, we can too often limit our perception of God and His goodness. Presuming that we can hide from God’s sight, or that God’s love is limited to other people or other things. Yet in both of these, we can fail to realize that nothing goes unnoticed by God and that He is actively seeking us out … seeking every single person … in order to bring them into His glory.
God’s mercy does not negate His justice ... and we must make an active respond to God’s mercy and love.
When we pray the Our Father, our pledge that His will be done – implies that the desire to conform our wills to God’s Will … and not the other way around.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – let us repent of anything holding us back from being completely and totally committed to God … and in return may we receive the fullness of His grace, His mercy, and His love through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our life.
