Master·evangeli.net
Today's Gospel + short theological explanation
When they saw this, they began to grumble (…). But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house (…)."
Eternal "Life" is not simply "what comes after"
EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)Today, we delight in the “change of ambiance” produced around Zacchaeus with his conversion. That full life, of rest and justice, of peace and communion —what we expect from eternal "Life"— that we can already foretaste (in time) by living in communion with God.
Eternal "life" is not simply "what comes after", something we cannot even imagine now. As it is a "form of existence", eternal life can already be present in the centre of our earthly and temporal life. In the contemplation of the living God we can reach, through grace, that our soul joins God, its ultimate foundation: a "mighty Love" that cannot be taken away from us through the vicissitudes of life, and from which the joy and the momentum to go forward derive.
—O Lord, eternal "life" exists in the midst of the fluidity of the transience, right there where we reach the "face-to-face" with You.
