31st Sunday Gospel Luke 19:1-10
We read in the First reading from the Book of
Wisdom: “Lord . . . You have mercy on all . . . and You overlook people’s
sins that they may repent. For You love all things that are and loathe nothing
that You have made; for You would not have fashioned what You
hated.”
There is a blunt saying which says: “God
doesn’t make junk!” But the message is true!!! God really doesn’t make
junk! It took Venerable Matt Talbot 28 years to understand the truth of this
reality. He was born in Ireland on May 2, 1856 and died at the age of 69 on
June 7, 1925. He was an unskilled laborer and had started drinking when he was
12 years old. His conversion began 16 years later when he was 28. One Saturday
morning he was not able to get up for work because of his hangover, but that
evening he went to the tavern where he and his buddies drank. However his
buddies strangely totally ignored him as if he wasn’t there. His initial anger
turned into confusion and then into peace and calm. Grace somehow touched his
heart and he went home without touching a drop. “You’re home early”,
his mother said. He told to her, “I’m going to stop drinking for good.”
He knew it would hard and decided it was time to
go to confession. It had been three years since his last confession and he had
been drunk every day since then. During confession he took the pledge to
renounce alcohol for three months. He began to go to daily Mass, which he
continued to do until the day he died. Three months seemed like an eternity and
involved a terrible struggle. But he stayed away from the pub and his drinking
friends. He slept only four hours, spending the rest of the night reading
spiritual books and praying. He especially turned to reading the lives of the
saints to replace his former friends who were still drinking.
Having remained sober for three months he took the
pledge for another three months. His thumping headaches and emotional turmoil
began to subside and he felt new hope rise within. He also stopped cursing.
After a year and a half of sobriety he took the pledge for life. He wanted to do
penance to make up for his sixteen years of drinking. He slept on boards with a
block of wood for his pillow. He fasted eating only enough food to stay
healthy. He also gave much of his weekly wages to various charities. He
certainly may be considered a “Patron Saint” of those struggling with
alcoholism. His story of conversion shows us that a very ordinary person can
with God’s help can change, and it reminds us that our Lord came to seek out
what was lost.
We don’t know all the details concerning the
conversion of Zacchaeus, but like Matt Talbot we know the results: even though
it was very hard, he changed his life for the better! Zacchaeus gave away half
of his wealth to the poor, and he restored four-fold any money he had falsely
collected. He went from being a selfish person, a thief and cheater, into a new
person who now thought of others and sought to redress his
wrongdoings.
In the Christian Tradition, we call the
experiences of both Matt Talbot and Zacchaeus as one of repentance and
conversion. And these two examples remind us that no one here including
ourselves or anyone else we know, no matter how hopeless they may appear, is
beyond the grasp of God through repentance and conversion.
Let us pray daily for courage and fortitude, both
for ourselves and for others, whom God may be calling to a holier way of life,
to repentance and conversion. Who knows who was praying and doing penance for
Matt Talbot, most likely his mother. Whoever it was, they understood that God
doesn’t make junk, and that He overlooks people’s sins so that they may repent.
