The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
“Before the LORD the whole universe is as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.”
This is the moment in a movie where two characters look up at the night sky, and one admits to the other that gazing at the millions of stars makes them feel small.
Before God, in His enormity and presence and capacity, we are small. The whole universe is as a grain from a balance. And here we are, each of us- one of 7.7 billion alive today, of 100 billion who has ever lived, standing on one planet that’s part of one galaxy in the entire universe.
If we step back from the human experience and look at our situation, none of us seem to matter. We are just a number in a bottomless ocean of an existence that won’t stop moving forward, even when it feels like our world is collapsing around us.
But we know this isn’t true.
Somehow, unfathomably, amazingly, the one true God made Himself small, as simply one of billions who walked the earth—and now comes in every tiny particle of the Eucharist. All because he wants to have a relationship with you.
One day, an ordinary man felt this movement in his heart. He wanted to know if what was being said by others was true. He needed to see God so badly that he ran ahead and climbed a tree just so he could watch Him walk by, because it was the only way he could see over the crowd.
As Zacchaeus wondered if this man was truly the answer, Jesus knew he was there and called out to him. The God of the universe, before whom all things are but a grain from a balance, or a drop of morning dew come down, became man and walked among us, only to enter the house of Zacchaeus — one of billions.
God wants to stay in your house. He wants to enter under your roof and rest inside you. Sometimes this is hard to believe. I can’t say it’s easy for me, but I wish for it for both of us.
Marissa Rankin studied music performance at Ave Maria University and Belmont University before settling down in Nashville with her husband and pup. She is the creator and founder of a Catholic marriage preparation ministry, Covenant Co. (just launched September 2021!) where she aspires to help Catholic couples and remind the Church that marriage is a vocation, too! If you are getting married or know someone who was recently engaged, check out check out Covenant Co. on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!
