Carmelite homily for Lectionary 497 | Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Note: This post is a rerun from Sunday, November 3rd, since the Gospel passage, Luke 19:1-10, is the same passage for today.
In his Sayings of Light and Love, Saint John of the Cross instructs us that, “Travelers cannot reach new territory if they do not take new roads and abandon the old familiar ones.” Good advice! In today’s Gospel, Jesus is going to Jericho – a new road for him. But more importantly, Zacchaeus is climbing a sycamore tree. That’s a new road for him. He’s going to reach new territory: comfort, and closeness, and love of Jesus. If we want those, we need to take new roads and abandon the old familiar ones that are getting us nowhere.