Any Zacchaeuses in This Revolution?

Yesterday I was struck once again by Pope Francis’s homily at the Casa Santa Marta. Once more (I think it is about the tenth time) he returned to the subject of the corrupt. Yesterday’s Gospel from Saint Luke, which tells how Zacchaeus climbed a tree to get a better look at Jesus and was converted when Christ spoke to him, was a perfect fit for talking about the corruption some people live in today, which, according to the Pope, is a state worse than sin.

In his homily he recalled the story of this man, who after meeting the Lord promised to pay back four times what he had stolen. And the Pope, with his usual wit, said, in substance, that when conversion reaches the pocket, you know it is real: Christians at heart, yes, all of us; Christians in soul, all of us; but Christians of the pocket? Few, very few.

And I don’t know why, but as I read that report I imagined how wonderful it would be if one day we could see on the Venezuelan news: “So-and-so has had a change of heart, has asked the people of Venezuela for forgiveness, and is returning his planes, yachts, mansions, jewels… everything stolen, looted, obtained through kickbacks, illegally, through influence peddling, or…” What an example that would be, don’t you think?

So far I haven’t seen the first Zacchaeus in this revolution do that. But I truly don’t lose hope. I pray every day that Christ will truly enter the hearts of the corrupt, so that they repent from the heart and give back everything! they stole, because for a thief to be forgiven it is not enough to repent; he has to return everything he stole, in full.

And it can be done. I knew a man (who passed away more than a decade ago) who was corrupt under the “Fourth Republic” (a “baby in diapers,” of course, compared with today’s corrupt), and that man was converted, asked forgiveness and gave back everything he had stolen. I remember he went to live in a tiny little apartment in downtown Caracas. The peace that man radiated is something I will never forget. He truly was a Zacchaeus who knew how to say Yes! to Christ and No! to ill-gotten money.

The Pope said in his homily that Zacchaeus’s moment of conversion came at once, and it was authentic. But he contrasted it with the words of those who did not want conversion, who grumbled that Jesus had gone into the house of a sinner, as if he had dirtied himself, lost his purity, and now needed to be purified.

Christ did not enter Zacchaeus’s house to get dirty with his ill-gotten money. Christ entered his house to bring him the Truth, the only Truth that could make him truly Happy! And Zacchaeus understood. He didn’t stay stuck to the “trinkets” of this world, which sooner or later he was going to lose anyway, because, as Pope Francis put it, who has ever seen a hearse followed by a moving van?

How painful it is when a Zacchaeus has had the chance to meet the Truth of Our Lord Jesus Christ face to face and has not had the courage to give back everything that isn’t his and ask forgiveness!

How painful it is that so many of our fellow Venezuelans have become corrupt out of comfort, pleasure, luxury, greed…! And how very painful is the harm they have done to our Homeland!

The Pope pointed out that Zacchaeus, whom the evangelist Luke describes as “a chief tax collector and rich,” was corrupt. He was corrupt, the Pope said, because he worked for the foreigners, for the Romans, and betrayed his country; he was like so many leaders we know today who, instead of serving the people, take advantage of them to serve themselves, and there are some of those in the world. So there are, Holy Father: there are some, here there are quite a few, and what a scandal they are for everyone else!

Then the Pope said something very strong. Zacchaeus, he said, was not lukewarm; he was not dead, he was in a state of decay, properly corrupt. And yet he heard something inside: curiosity about this man who heals, whom people call a prophet and who speaks so well. That inner call, the Pope said, was the Holy Spirit.

He went on to say, in substance, that Christ was clever: he planted the seed of curiosity, and to see him this man made himself a little ridiculous. Imagine an important leader, a corrupt one, a chief of leaders, climbing a tree to watch a procession: how ridiculous! But Zacchaeus was not ashamed. He wanted to see Jesus, and the Holy Spirit was at work inside him. And then the Word of God entered that heart, and with the Word came joy.

God grant that his Word may enter the hearts of the corrupt in Venezuela and that they may be converted from the heart. Beyond the help they could give by returning everything they stole, they have no idea how much they would be helping themselves and their families. And above all, they would be able to sleep in Peace again, the Peace that only Christ can give us.