LIVE IT TODAY: Tuesday, November 18, 2025 | Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul
I seek you before you ever seek Me. Nothing about you is too small to draw My gaze.
LIVE IT TODAY: Tuesday, November 18, 2025 | Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul
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GOD’S DECLARATION TO YOU TODAY
I seek you before you ever seek Me. Nothing about you is too small to draw My gaze.
INVOCATION
Come, Holy Spirit! Through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother Mary, open my heart to hear and receive all that You desire for me. Draw me ever more deeply into the Love and Life of the Blessed Trinity!
GOSPEL | Luke 19:1–10
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;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature.
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,
“Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house.”
And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they saw this, they began to grumble, 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.”
And Jesus said to him,
“Today salvation has come to this house
because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save what was lost.”
EVERY DAY QUESTION
What struck you? Challenged you? Inspired you? What questions did it raise?
GOING DEEPER
The God who looks up before He lifts up
Today’s Gospel gives us one of the most tender reversals in all of Scripture. Zacchaeus climbs upward to see Jesus, but it is Jesus who looks upward to find him. In Greek, the verb used—anablepsas—means more than “looked up”; it carries the sense of lifting one’s eyes with intention, almost with longing. Jesus doesn’t accidentally notice Zacchaeus in a tree. He seeks him.
This feast—the Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul—reminds us that the Church is built on two men Jesus sought in the same way. Peter, impulsive and unsteady; Paul, zealous and misdirected. Neither climbed trees, but both were “up high” in pride and self-will. Jesus looked up at both of them too, not to condemn, but to commission. The Church’s foundations are proof that Jesus builds His home with rescued sinners who finally allow themselves to be found.
Zacchaeus is more than a curious bystander; he is a man choked by his own choices. Chief tax collectors were seen as traitors to their people—greedy, manipulative, spiritually contaminated. The crowd wasn’t wrong to be shocked. What is shocking is Jesus’ declaration: “Today I must stay at your house.” Divine necessity—dei in Greek. It doesn’t mean “I want to” or “I ought to.” It means “This is the mission. This is why I came.”
Jesus’ mission is not to pass by the homes we’re ashamed of, but to enter them.
Picture this moment through the eyes of the first-century listener: a man who built his wealth on oppression suddenly becomes the host of the Messiah. The whole town watches in scandal as grace moves into the very house they would have condemned. The Gospel is not polite. It overturns reputations, expectations, and tightly held resentments.
And our homes today? Every household has its “Zacchaeus moments”—places of greed, resentment, secrecy, comparison, or self-preservation. Every family has corners we’d rather keep Jesus from seeing. But He seeks us anyway. He looks up into the sycamore trees of our defenses and says, “Come down quickly. I must stay at your house.”
One of the remarkable signs of Zacchaeus’ conversion is how it affects his home first: generosity, restitution, transformation—all beginning in the domestic sphere. Holiness always starts in the house before it spreads to the town.
Parents, Jesus desires to stay in your home today. Not the future, cleaned-up version—today. Invite Him into the very places you’re tempted to hide. Pray over your spouse and children by name tonight, asking Jesus to seek, save, and transform what feels lost, hidden, or out of reach. This is how families become living basilicas—homes founded not on perfection, but on presence.
“‘The Christian family constitutes a specific revelation and realization of ecclesial communion.’” (CCC 2204)
LIFE APPLICATION QUESTIONS
Climbing the Tree:
What “sycamore tree” have you climbed in your effort to see Jesus—what habit, perspective, or posture needs His transforming gaze?
Opening the Door:
Where in your home or heart is Jesus saying, “I must stay,” and what keeps you hesitating?
Generosity as Conversion:
What concrete act of restitution, generosity, or reconciliation may Jesus be asking of you today?
FAMILY LIVE IT
Make some time today to gather together and, going around, each person briefly shares one area where they want Jesus to “stay” in their life or home.
Pray over each person by name: Lord Jesus, enter ___’s heart and home today. Silence every lie of the Enemy that keeps them hiding or afraid. Pour Your peace, courage, purity, and joy into every corner of their life. Let Your salvation come to this house in new and powerful ways.
Daily Challenge: Choose one simple act of kindness done quietly for a family member—an act that opens the door a little wider for Jesus to stay.
DAILY PARENT & GRANDPARENT BLESSING
LORD JESUS CHRIST, let Your holy anointing be upon each of our children, grandchildren, and godchildren this day and week, including all to whom they are called in vocation, and all future generations! In Your Sacred Name we claim them for You! We renounce all whispers, lies, and influences of the Enemy! We pray right now that each know Your loving Presence, be forged in virtue, and be flooded with an abundance of Your Holy Spirit to live fully their identity and mission in You now and through all eternity, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother! Amen.
PARENT BLESSING PROJECT: bit.ly/ParentBlessing
GOING VERTICAL
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Just as the vertical beam upholds the horizontal beam of the Cross, so too does undistracted, dedicated daily turning to God as our lifeblood uphold and strengthen every part of life. Start with just three minutes. Wait patiently for the breakthrough beyond the noise. Let Him speak.
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