Conversion follows encounter

Our role or place in life is a question which often provokes moments of contemplation and query. The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary shine light on the role of God in establishing our place. Friar Jude Winkler sees the great power of God expressed in the text from the Book of Wisdom as mercy. He argues that mercy is not, as we might assume on first thought, a virtue of weakness, but rather a virtue which requires great fortitude, patience and faith in the other. Father Larry Gillick SJ picks up the many aspects of Creation which are gifted to us by God. The one aspect of our living that is not created by God is our sin and God accepts it as our gift to Him. In the Gospel from Luke, the rich tax collector Zacchaeus risks public humiliation and perhaps retribution for his work as a tax collector for the Roman occupiers, when he accepts Jesus assertive call to be the one who must stay at Zacchaeus house today and comes down from the leaves of the sycamore tree where he had been hiding in an attempt to see more of this person Jesus. The risk taken by Zacchaeus was perhaps motivated by the contemplation of his role in life. The Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians today advises that not every calamity, war or peculiar happening is a sign of the end of the world, but the encounter of difficulty may be that call to us which we witness in the response of Zacchaeus. The change in life and the restoration of peace over his role in life is the fruit of conversion offered to Zacchaeus. The pattern we see is summarized by Father Larry as conversion follows encounter. Jesus meets us and the relationship makes the difference in our actions.