October 30, 2022: 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Even when we as people have sinned and strayed from God, He still seeks after us, because, as is written in the reading from Wisdom, God's "imperishable spirit" is still in us, because He created us and loves us, even if the whole world is relatively small in before God's vastness.

Indeed, He spares us from punishment all the time and gives us a second chance to be right with Him.

Jesus looked past Zacchaeus's disreputable deeds as a tax collector, and recognized his potential to make amends when overshadowed by God's grace.

So when Jesus passed through Jericho and saw Zacchaeus in the tree, He arranged a visit.

There must have been an incredible outpouring of God's grace upon Zacchaeus, who committed to actions of reparation.

While we have a tendency to judge others, we are all in need of mercy, which God abundantly grants us so that we can live in the fullness of life He desires for us.

And that is the power of God's salvation, as St. Paul's words in the 2nd reading say, to work His Grace in us to restore us to who He has called us to be.