HOMILY 31ST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
ALL SOULS’ DAY
LITTLE ZACCHEUS WINS THE DAY AND WE REMBER AND GIVE THANKS FOR THOSE WE LOVE WHO HAVE DIED!
Lk 19.1-10 Is 25.6-9 Rom 5.5-11
(Rhyme Bible: “Little Zaccheus”)
As we continue Luke’s Gospel journey of Jesus to Jerusalem, following the parables of the pestiferous persistent widow, then the Pharisee and the tax collector, we now have a real life tax collector, in little Zaccheus, whose story is told only by Luke. It’s an amusing image of this presumably senior chap, desperate and forgetting his dignity climbing up a tree, just to get a better view of Jesus, who spots him first and calls him down! The conversation starts with a home visit dinner invitation, initiated by Jesus, who, as usual, has no difficulty reaching out to engage a perceived but penitent sinner, meanwhile scandalising the judgemental onlookers. And, despite his apparent wealth, Zaccheus was yet another outsider on the fringes of Jewish society.
Then all changes when Jesus calls him down out of his tree, by name, and the conversion experience just happens, as he says he will admit his failures and wrongs, and more than repay those he has cheated, if that was the case. And so, salvation comes to him and his household that day, enlightened as he is, by the person and message of Jesus, with no looking back.
Now we gather to remember those who have loved us and whom we have and continue to love in our hearts and memories, as we give thanks for their presence in our lives and their continuing influence on who we are, and the choices we make, as life goes on for each of us.
Up front here, we see pictures of loved ones who have died in the past year, as it’s good to acknowledge them, as we once again commend them, in faith, to our loving and forgiving God once more. For me, photos are a helpful reminder of the love and joy these individuals have brought into our lives. Each has his or her own story, as do we all, and the sense of grief and loss goes on, as we get on with living our own lives without them.
While the Church celebrates All Saints and All Souls as separate sequential feasts, personally, I like to combine them, as I say we all know who our own saints are, and I don’t mean perfect persons! And don’t we know that quite a few of the declared saints were rather different, even weird, personalities, with their own eccentricities and foibles, that we might not wish to emulate! During the course of history, certain ones have been mythologised as having done extraordinary things, but the fundamental requirement is to be a person of the Gospel, doing one’s best to follow the way of Jesus as we walk this earth.
On Friday we celebrated the feast of our parish patron saint, Therese of Lisieux, who really only made a global impact, with the publication of her spiritual autobiography “The Story of a Soul”, after she died at the age of 24, a relatively short, but special life, secluded in an enclosed convent, from when she was 15.
And did you know she became patron saint of pilots, among other things!? Apparently French pilots carried holy pictures of her even before she was canonised in 1925! Essendon airport was established in 1921, a year before this parish was founded!! Her patronage later extended then to mission, France, Russia, sufferers of tuberculosis (of which she died), florists and gardeners, orphans and homeless. So she covers a wide range!
At the heart of her ‘Little Way’ was “not doing extraordinary things, but doing ordinary things with extraordinary love.” Known also as ‘The Little Flower’, this reflected her appreciation of the beauty of nature, as seen in the diversity of flowers in particular. As she said: “If every flower wanted to be a rose, the garden would lose its beauty”, I much appreciate, (like my predecessor here, Fr John Mullaly), the beauty and longevity of orchids, where the flowers just spring up, out of the pot, with minimum to no maintenance, far above prickly roses, while acknowledging their beauty and odour, but then the petals appear and then disappear so quickly. Mind you, there are quite a few rose blooms out there now, around the church garden.
Our primary students presented small multi-coloured hearts, as part of Offertory, with up to 550 brief statements of doing thoughtful and helpful little things well, to make a difference, as Therese encouraged. So I now share a few with you, just to illustrate the simple ways of goodness, and so, holiness, which she wrote about.
First Amelia quotes Therese: and “Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, or even at their difficulty, as at the love with which we do them”.
So, here are some concrete examples I share with you now: “I will be a god (good) sport”, “I smiled at someone today”, “Help someone that’s left out”. “I want to help more”. “Smile at all of my friends”. “I love to smile at everyone” (even better!!). “I will help someone when they are sad”, “I played with Olly, I played with Ava, I helped my mum “I am going to be kind”. “Make others feel happy”. “Every day I will smile at someone I don’t know and ask about them”. “Give someone a comple(i)ment”. “Spread the love”. “Be helpful”. “Be inclusive”. “Surprising people when they need it”! “I help my family by feeding my dog”, “I cleaned out my wardrobe and donated them”, “I helped clean for my birthday” (perhaps not often enough?!). “Do my chores”. “This week I made dinner for the family and gave things to the poor”. “I helped (him) because he was stressed and sad”. “Kindness is a key to success”. “Shine your light into somebody’s darkness”, “Make people laugh when they are sad”. “Be kind to everyone… I hope wonders are made”. “Say good things about people”, “Be helpful to others. Have a smile on your face”, “Being kind; it’s good to have a laugh; good to help”, “Help my brother with his homework”, “I will help save storks from extinction”. “I helped my mum when she was sick” (Perhaps when she’s well would be good too!!). “I made dinner for my nan”. “I promise to control what I say and do”. “Give ur (your) mummy a hug and kiss”. “I will be nice”. “Today I asked someone how they are and gave them a high-5”. “Smiled at a homeless man, then gave him money”, “I’m a kind friend”. “I can show kindness by sticking up for others”. And, finally: “I am going to make my bed”!!
Therese has much to teach us, and it seems our students have learned her lesson of her ‘Little Way’ well and truly, with simple things to be put into action and practised. So here we have some basic, practical examples of how to live life well as faithful followers of Jesus, sharing the love that is his and ours.
Back to All Saints and Souls, says Claude Mostowik MSC: “As Christians, we believe that death is not the end… We put our hope in it… We remember that we belong to each other and are part of each other still.”
john hannon 2nd November 2025
Tomas Halik is a Czech priest (ordained in secret in 1978, the same year as I was – popeless!), author and theologian, who has written a book titled “Patience with God”, based on the story of Zaccheus, whom he describes as a seeker of truth, curious and questioning, but unsure about Jesus.
Brendan Byrne says of Isaiah’s reading today: “God’s only intent in respect to human beings is to have them as guests at a rich banquet of eternal life… a symbol of the Kingdom of God”, with St Paul in Romans referring to “the hope of salvation that flows from God’s faithful love”, as revealed in Jesus, giving us all a sense of hope for the future, and faith in the mystery of life with God.