In the Trees
“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down!”
We read in this week’s Gospel lesson of Jesus’s encounter with Zacchaeus, up in the sycamore tree. This fellow perched in a tree is not, in fact, Zacchaeus, but St David the Dendrite. The Dendrites were a class of hermit who took Jesus’s instructions to “consider the birds of the air” perhaps a bit too literally, taking up residence in the branches of trees as a form of withdrawal from the world. Like Zacchaeus, they climbed up into a tree to get a glimpse of Jesus — we see St David’s little icon of Christ up there in the tree with them. Unlike Zacchaeus, however, they didn’t hear Jesus calling them to come back down.
You are my hiding-place; you shall preserve me from trouble; you shall encompass me with songs of deliverance.
— Psalm 32:8
Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
Texts for This Week
Prayer
Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, as we live among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Whoever Dwells in the Defense of the Most High
Harpa Dei, a sacred music acapella quartet of German-Ecuadorian siblings, sing Psalm 91. The group seeks to contribute to the evangelization of the world and edification of the Church through their well-crafted performance of liturgical music from across the Christian tradition. “Harpa Dei tries to collect the most beautiful songs from different traditions, in order to glorify God, and, on the other hand, to transmit to people the beauty of the Lord, which shines so eminently in Sacred Music.” Adding an ison to the simple Gregorian chant melody, this version is rich in its texture, and and oriental in its feel.
