I can identify with Zacchaeus. When I came into recovery, I had not experienced the extreme negative consequences many others do. I never saw the inside of an emergency room or courtroom due to my drinking. But my insides were hollow. I knew I was living in a house of cards and that those cards were going to eventually fall. It was going to hurt. By God’s grace, I was perhaps blessed with a low threshold of pain, and it was the relatively little pain I experienced that led me to the rooms of recovery. Wherever we are on our recovery journey, let’s approach today with the same willingness to encounter Jesus that Zacchaeus demonstrates. If we do that, one day at a time, we can stay on the road of recovery with the aid of God’s grace and grow ever closer to Him.

Reflection Questions

• Regardless of your financial, social, or professional status, what was the status of your heart when you entered recovery? What is the status of your heart today?
• Are there individuals in your life with whom you feel the need to make amends? While this should always be done with the guidance of a sponsor, what might you do today to prepare your heart for making such amends?

Daily Mass Readings

First Reading: Revelation 3:1-6, 14-22
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 15:2-3a, 3bc-4ab, 5
Gospel: Luke 19:1-10

Reflection by Kevin S.