Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in
prayer. Contribute to the needs of the
holy ones, exercise hospitality. Romans 12:12-13
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich
he has sent away empty. Luke 1:53
Piety
Let all guests who arrive
be received like Christ, for He is going to say, "I came as a
guest, and you received Me" (Matt. 25:35).
And to all let due honor be shown, especially to the domestics of the
faith and to pilgrims. (Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 53: On the Reception of
Guests)
Study
Mary and Elizabeth are a
study in contrasts. First we encounter a
woman so young and inexperienced that she has become pregnant without having “relations
with a man.” (Luke 1:34b). Then we have the
sign given to Mary in confirmation of the angel’s announcement to her is the
pregnancy of her aged relative Elizabeth. If a woman past the childbearing age
could become pregnant, why, the angel implies, should there be doubt about
Mary’s pregnancy, for nothing will be impossible for God.
Is it any wonder that they
had a lot to discuss? Mary hastened to
see Elizabeth and stayed three months. This kind of open hospitality is the
perfect metaphor for all things biblical. Where people live, what they eat or do
not eat, with whom they spend time, and more are the constant themes spread
throughout sacred history and our ordinary times as well.
Hospitality abounds. Adam and Eve are welcomed into a garden to
live…and then expelled. Noah invites pairs of all species onto his allegorical
houseboat. From kings to shepherds to
kings, the Bible is about these ordinary encounters of hospitality that become
extraordinary when Jesus dwells inside Mary.
Mary visits Elizabeth. There is
no room at the inn. The Son of Man has
no place to lay his head until his head is laid in a cave and covered with a
rock. Down to the very end when he invites his friends one last time to a
breakfast of fish grilled on an open fire.
And his final commands to Peter is one of hospitality: "Feed my sheep!"
Action
Exercise hospitality. It’s
more fun than dining alone.
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