IN my travels throughout North America, I have been hearing remarkable conversion stories from young people. They are telling me about conferences or retreats they’ve attended, and how they are being transformed by an encounter with Jesus—in the Eucharist. The stories are almost identical:
I was having a difficult weekend, not really getting much out of it. But when the priest walked in carrying the monstrance with Jesus in the Eucharist, something happened. I have been changed ever since….
LOVE REVEALS ITSELF
HE was not a righteous man. He was a liar, a thief, and everyone knew it. Yet, in Zacchaeus, there was a hunger for the truth which sets us free, even if he did not know it. And so, when he heard that Jesus was passing by, he climbed a tree to catch a glimpse.
Of all the hundreds, perhaps thousands that were following Christ that day, Jesus stopped at that tree.
Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house. (Luke 19:5)
Jesus did not stop there because He found a worthy soul, or because he found a soul full of faith, or even a repentant heart. He stopped because His Heart was filled with compassion for a man who was out on a limb—spiritually speaking.