The consider

"Jesus, having entered Jericho, was passing through the city. And behold, a rich man called Zacchaeus, chief of the publicans, sought to see who Jesus was ; but he could not do it because of the crowd, because he was small. He ran forward, and went up a sycamore to see him, because he had to go through there. When Jesus came to this place, he lifted up his eyes and said to him : Zacchaeus, hurry down ; for I must dwell in your house today" (Luke 19: 1-5).

I always enjoyed having neighbors, telling me that I would have many opportunities to tell them about the Lord. One of our neighbors loved me very much. And he watched me. He knew what time I was getting up, what time I was going to work, what time we were going to church, and so on.

With life passing so fast, the love of the many who are getting colder and individualism, we do not take the time to consider the Zacchaeus that surround us. But we should. We can introduce ourselves, greet them with a great expression of joy, offer them services, help them, invite them to a snack, a meal, a barbecue, an outing, and not necessarily always to "the great crusade of 'evangelization' of our church. In fact, they do not want to be "crossed", they do not like settlers and they do not like to feel like fish, or prey to hunt.

Do you think of someone around you? A neighbour ? A colleague ? A cashier ? The Baker ? How can you get closer to this person ? What could you do ?

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. Jesus, he invited himself to Zacchaeus ! You have to be damn inspired to do that ! Jesus knew how to spend time with the Father and that's why he was so inspired. He managed to see Zacchaeus when the crowd had not seen him. If he could see it, it was because he was praying because he was ready to consider his neighbor.

Jeremy Sourdril