+(Intro) This morning we are praying for vocations to the religious and priestly life. The greatest incentive for those being called is the authenticity of our own example. So let us take a moment to be sorry for how we may fail in our calling.
(After the gospel) As we just heard from the book of Maccabees, the ninety-year-old Eleazar rejected making any pretense of observing the Law lest he deceive the young. He became a model of courage and an unforgettable example to the young.
Our gospel has Jesus calling Zacchaeus down out of a sycamore tree, telling him that he wanted to stay in his house that day. Each of our callings has had the same divine initiative about it, sinners though we were. And like Zachaeus we too are called to share with the poor.
As we recently read or heard in the exhortation of Pope Leo, never has it become so important that we share with the poor and extort no one. Jesus is ever calling us into sharing his own divine life so as to be an incentive to others.
2 Macc 6:18-31; Luke 19:1-10