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Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 18 November 2025 Tuesday in the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time, Year I Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter & Paul, Apostles 2 Maccabees 16:18-31 ><))))*> + ><))))*> + ><))))*> Luke 19:1-10
What a most blessed day today, Lord Jesus Christ for you to teach us today of that most essential teaching of yours - of forgetting one's self to the point of giving up one's life and reputation to gain you and eternal life:
Eleazar in the Old Testament, Zacchaeus in the gospel plus today's memorial of the dedication of the basilicas in honor of the two pillars of your church, the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul.
They all gave up themselves for you by standing for what is true and good and just: despite his old age of 90, Eleazar chose to face torture and death than defile himself by pretending before the people of eating pork as ordered their pagan occupiers; Zacchaeus, on the other hand, disregarded what others would say about him despite his being "small in stature" as a sinner that he climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus.
Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man of advanced age and noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork… He told them to send him at once to the abode of the dead, explaining, “At our age it would be unbecoming to make such a pretense… should I thus pretend for the sake of a brief moment of life, they would be led astray by me, while I would bring shame and dishonor on my old age” (2 Maccabees 6:18, 24, 25).
At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was…so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly for today I must stay at your house… When they all saw this, they began to grumlbe, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over” (Luke 19:1-2, 4-5, 7-8).
As we celebrate today the memorial of the dedication of the Basilicas of your Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, teach us to have their courage for standing for what is true: like Eleazar, let us never think even of committing sin "for a brief moment" and mislead others into evil; like Zacchaeus, teach us to forget about what others may say about us but what you would tell us. Let us realize, Lord, that in this life, something's gotta give - possessions and things, pride and ego, sin and addictions - to be truly free and fulfilled in you. Amen.
