Hospitality Is Key To Spreading
Joy In Being A Christian

Homily 07 21 2013
16th Sunday OT - C

View the Readings for this day

A man attending a crowded church service refused to take off his hat when asked to do so by the ushers. Others also asked him to remove his hat, but he remained obstinate. The preacher was perturbed, too, and waited for the man after the service.

He told the man that the church was quite happy to have him as a guest, and invited him to join the church, but he explained the traditional decorum regarding men's hats and said, "I hope you will conform to that practice in the future."

"Thank you," said the man. "And thank you for taking time to talk to me. It is good of you to invite me to join the congregation. In fact, I joined it three years ago and have been coming regularly ever since, but today is the first time that anyone paid attention to me. After being an unknown for three years, today, by simply keeping on my hat on, I have had the pleasure of talking with the ushers, several of the congregants and you. Thanks!"

The scripture for this Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary time is about welcoming - about hospitality. It is about noticing the other and being attentive to the other.

"Hospitality is the way we come out of ourselves. It is the first step toward dismantling the barriers of the world. Hospitality is the way we turn a prejudiced world around, one heart at a time." -Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister.

In our first reading, Abraham and Sarah go out of their way to entertain the stranger, and they receive God's blessing. In the gospel, Martha and Mary receive Jesus in their home at Bethany, each in her own characteristic way.

In the gospel the Jesus of Luke with the assistance of Martha and Mary teach us about hospitality but also discipleship. To be hospitable is to take advantage of times you can share food and drink and your homes and yourselves. Welcoming a child into your lives is a profound act of hospitality too.

For students, welcoming someone at school into your circle is a good example and it would be a great thing if those children and youth who have been here in the parish would also reach out to other children. Certainly you have shown your hospitality to me.

My hope is that each person here after hearing the readings today, will be challenged to grow in hospitality for others, first in your families...but also take greater steps in the parish.

Paul reminds us that he was commissioned by God to Preach among you God's word in its fullness, a great task, and each of us should take time to study the scriptures and listen when they are proclaimed and shared in the homily. It is through accepting the Preached Word, the Mystery hidden but now revealed so the necessary response of our community today is to be a hearer of the full measure of the wisdom contained in the Word of God.

When we leave our home and find ourselves in a place where we are welcomed by others it might be well to note the efforts at hospitality that others have made and not take them for granted.

And when others come to visit us, it doesn't hurt to make a little fuss about them. Especially on Sundays, in our churches, this is the time to roll out the welcome mat and to make everyone feel at home. A smile, a hello, a greeting, even a "Thank you for joining us today" can go a long way toward bearing witness to the faith.

It's no wonder that back in May, during Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae (literally "The House of St. Martha") Pope Francis said that when Christians have more of a sourpuss attitude than a face that communicates the joy of being loved by God, they harm the witness of the church. He said that the Christian is a man or woman of joy who cannot keep it bottled up inside.

So make a little fuss this weekend about those who come to visit. You'll make them feel like they have a place at the table of the Lord!

Last Sunday's Readings were given to spur us on to do good works imitating the Good Samaritan. Today's stories encourage us in listening and being present to the Lord and being hospitable to others.

jjl

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