Pope Francis can’t be beat!Recently, he traveled to Krakow, Poland, to participate in the World Youth Gathering, with upwards of one million people.It was a Sunday when he addressed the gathering and the Gospel was that of Zaccheus (Lk 19: 1-10).We remember, of course, this Roman tax collector of ill repute who exploited the people; he is a persona non gratain our minds. He was short of stature, full of unprofessed shame and yet he wanted to see Jesus and so climbed a tree in order to get a glimpse of Jesus as hepassed by.But to his utter amazement, Jesus saw Zaccheus, called him down from his lofty heights and asked if he could come to his home.
That can happen to you, too, Pope Francis said to the youth. It can happen all of a sudden, in a moment, or gradually, when two hearts somehow meet one another.
But Zaccheus had to overcome some obstacles in meeting Jesus, just as any of us—young or older—need to assess and overcome our own personal obstacles.There are three such obstacles which Pope Francis addressed with reference to Zaccheus and to most of us.First, smallness of stature.How many of us don’t feel worthy to approach Jesus or do not realize how much Jesus loves and counts on us for who we are i.e. precious and beloved children of God.That is our real stature.He waits for us to come to Him as weare!
The second obstacle to overcome in our meeting Jesus is the paralysis of shame. Zaccheus was a public figure, a man of power.He knew that in climbing a tree he’d become the laughingstock to all. Yet as Pope Francis said, “Zaccheus mastered his shame because the attraction of Jesus was more powerful.” The Holy Father‘s advice to the youth was: “Don’t be afraid to say YES to Jesus with all your hearts. . . and say a firm NO to the narcotic of success at any cost and to the sedative of worrying onlyabout yourself and your own comfort.”
The third obstacle that Zaccheus had to overcome in his coming to Jesus was the grumbling of the crowd, the criticism and judgment of the crowd wondering why Jesus wanted to dine in Zaccheus’ house.To the youth, Pope Francis said “People may judge you to be a dreamer because you believe in a new humanity, one that rejects hatred between people, one that refuses to see borders as barriers. Don’t be discouraged. With a smile and open arms, proclaim hope, be a blessing for our one human family which here you represent so beautifully!”
Jesus wants to stay at our homes too, dwell in our daily lives of studies, friendships, hopes and dreams. “Take all of these to Him in prayer.Don’t forget the encounter you have had with God here these days.He wanted you to be here and has come to meet you.Now walk with Him, talk with Him.” And Jesus would surely say: “Be My beloved son and daughter—whether young or older, rich or poor, popular or living in the shadows, Catholic or of another religion. I am calling YOU.We can be great friends and do great things together!”
Thank you, our dearly beloved Pope Francis!You can’t be beat!
We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
Essential Website Cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
Google Analytics Cookies
These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.
If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:
Other external services
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
Other cookies
The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them: