In this weekend’s Gospel, we read the story of Zaccheaus, the man who was willing to be a fool to see the Lord. He was a grown man willing to climb a tree to get as close to the Lord as possible. When I think of such bold curiosity to know the Lord more completely, I am inspired. I pray you are, as well.

This is our worthy reflection: what in our lives stands too frightening to be overcome in our pursuit of the Lord?

So many of us struggle with a syndrome that seems to afflict every church, and perhaps the Catholic Church most of all.

The “holier” people become, the more they seem to become holier-than-thou. They morph into self-appointed dress code monitors, solemnity enforcers, and masters of the dirty look.

I have to be honest. I struggled with them as a child more than you can imagine.

I recently received feedback that said a previous column was “offensive.” I treat feedback like this very seriously by going back and scouring the article in question. If I inadvertently wrote something mean-spirited because I didn’t pray and/or have my morning coffee first, I will write a correction or apology—as I have in the past. But if it is offensive because it is firmly grounded in Church teaching and the Gospel, so be it. It means I did something worthwhile.

Dear Family of God,

I want to share with you all “The History of the Holy Face Devotion” and add this devotion to our weekly prayers, that is every Tuesday after the Daily Mass and Rosary.

In Tours, France during the 1840's a young Carmelite nun named, Sr. Mary of St Peter, received a series of revelations from Our Lord about a powerful devotion He wished to be established worldwide...the devotion to His Holy Face. The express purpose of this devotion was to make reparation for the blasphemies and outrages of "Revolutionary men" [the Communists] ...through whom God is allowing the world to be chastised for its unbelief, as well as for the blasphemies of atheists and freethinkers and others, plus, for blasphemy and the profanation of Sundays by Christians. Specifically, this devotion is the Divine tool given by God to defeat Communism, but it is also an instrument given to the individual devotee as a seemingly unfailing method of appealing to God in prayer...through adoration of His Holy Face and Name.

You won the lottery. And because you are a kind and generous soul, you’ve decided to throw a party for family and friends. You finally have the opportunity to make dreams come true!

There is couple from your parish who have always wanted to visit the Vatican, but couldn’t afford it. You aren’t particularly close, but you decide to bless their lives anyway. You bought them tickets, a week in a hotel, and included enough money for food, ground transportation, and entry to anywhere they want to go.

Eight days ago (as I write this), our parish’s Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults began another year, and will culminate at the Easter Vigil before concluding a few weeks later.

It meets almost every Wednesday in the Parish Library from 6:30PM-8:00PM and is for any adult who is unbaptized, baptized in another faith and interested in Catholicism, adult Catholic who never completed the sacraments of initiation, AND any “cradle Catholic” who wants to audit the class in order to learn more about the Faith.