I Seek 2
This was our second step on the journey of reflecting on the word 'seek'.
Many questions can come to our minds about what we seek in life and how we seek it.
Together, we will try to look deeper into this matter, ask the right questions and try to find the right answers.
We have started our meeting by praying this beautiful prayer of Saint Ignatius of Loyola...
Take, Lord, receive all my liberty,my memory, my understanding,my whole will,all that I have and all that I possess.You gave it all to me, Lord;I give it all back to you.Do with it as you will,according to your good pleasure.Give me your love and your grace;for with this I have all that I need.
Today we will continue our reflection on another part of Zacchaeus' story: "...he could not see over..."! (Luke 19:3)
1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
We have reflected on how some obstacles can come from inside of us and others can come from the outside (Zacchaeus couldn't see Jesus because he was short and because of the crowd).
These obstacles might and can prevent us from meeting Christ and pursuing our desire to follow him.
After some individual silence and prayer time, we concluded our meeting by a fraternal discussion and a final prayer of Saint John Vianney:
I love You, O my God,and my only desire is to love You until the last breath of my life.I love You, Lordand the only grace I ask is to love You eternally.My God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love You,I want my heart to repeat it to you as often as I draw breath.