Christian spirituality: When the other is a blessing
God often uses our encounters with others to bless us and renew us
Two Gospel encounters in Luke – Mary’s visit to Elizabeth and Jesus’s encounter with Zacchaeus – both show that meeting the other is not just something we do: it is one of the ways in which God teaches us who we truly are in his view.
Mary sets out “with haste” into the hill country, leaving comfort behind, crossing over towards others. In that journey, the first condition for a fruitful meeting appears: step out of your own orbit and allow another person to enter in.
When Mary enters Elizabeth’s house and greets her, things begin to happen: Elizabeth recognises God’s work and the child inside her leaps “for joy”. The encounter awakens grace and reveals identity: Elizabeth speaks inspired by the Holy Spirit and blesses Mary as “the mother of my Lord”. Mary’s response springs from her deepening confidence in God’s promise.
This is not mere sentiment. The meeting creates harmony, peace and joy, flowing from realising that God is guiding us and acts in us. Mary’s faith is confirmed and illuminated by Elizabeth’s recognition, so the “promise” becomes lived experience.
Zacchaeus is introduced as the chief among tax collectors: rich, short in stature and socially excluded. His need to “see Jesus” expresses a desire to be more than his public label. Yet, his obstacles are real: the crowd prevents him from seeing and his stature prevents him from being seen.
So, he climbs a tree. As soon as Jesus arrives, he looks up, divine attention meeting human longing, and calls him by name: “Zacchaeus, come down, for today I must abide at your house.”
He does not begin with a lecture on morals. He begins with presence. His look and his words communicate dignity, not contempt. Zacchaeus responds joyfully and his conversion shows itself concretely: he gives to the poor and restores what he has taken by fraud.
Salvation, Jesus says, has come “to this house”. Christ’s mercy associates with the sinner, because the meeting’s purpose is to forgive and transform. Zacchaeus, “one who has been lost”, becomes sought and saved. His sin is not denied but it is overcome by a relationship of compassion that calls forth a new life.
From these two encounters, the Church highlights a practical spiritual law: real companionship requires sensitivity to the other. St Paul teaches, “rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep”. It means sharing good and bad times in charity, rejoicing when others rejoice and grieving when they grieve because compassion itself is a sign of true friendship and support.
So, meeting others is about being social. But it often also becomes an occasion where God is enabling us to receive what we did not know we needed: encouragement, correction and empathy. Since God’s pattern is to receive people in love as Christ receives them, we are invited to “receive one another” in charity, bearing with others so they may advance in the love of God.
Let Mary’s urgency and Zacchaeus’s honesty help shape our lives. It helps us to seek encounters we have been postponing and offer respectful attention without judging. When someone rejoices, let us join in; when someone suffers, let us not remain indifferent.
In time, we may discover what both stories reveal: the other is often the instrument God uses to bless us and to renew us.
Joseph Galea is a member of the Society of Christian Doctrine (MUSEUM).