The theme for today's readings, is none other than the call to repentance and restitution. We see in the readings God's earnest urging for His sons and daughters to wake up from their stupor and turn away from sin. Here we see that it is not enough just to know the Word and His teaching but we have to obey it. The readings also urge us to rid ourselves of the spirit of complacency lest we, who are wretched and poor, mistakenly think we are rich! Yes, we have to do something about our blindness and deafness and our hardened hearts of stone so as not to miss recognising the Great Captain Himself when He knocks at the door of our hearts, for how sad it would be if, in the vast encampment of our soul, we are so busy with the arrival and departure of troops with convoys and baggage that there is no lodging for the Great Captain himself. No room in the inn! But if we are attentive, if we listen and we hear and our hearts' doors are opened to Him, He comes in and sups with us and leads us to victory to share in His glory together with all those who belong to Him.

The Gospel story of Zacchaeus takes us one step further - from repentance to restitution or the restoration of trust. Restoration, a largely forgotten and neglected Christian discipline, is necessary for healing or making whole both the one wounded and the one who wounds.