Saints of God, the Lord be with you…
The first reading from the Book of Genesis (18:1-10) and the Gospel according to Luke (10:38-42) reminds me of a story I read years ago in the popular Ann Landers column that appeared in many newspapers. A woman wrote in with the dilemma she faced when her Hispanic gardeners asked her for a drink of water on a particular very hot day. Not knowing what to do, she allowed them to drink from the hose. She wanted to know if she did the right thing.
To a point, she did, however, reflecting on today’s readings, she did not offer any hospitality. In the reading from Genesis, Abraham offered the three strangers passing by water, rest, and food. While Sarah did the cooking, Abraham waited on them while they ate under the tree.
In today’s Gospel, it is Martha who was burdened with serving the meal, while her sister Mary “sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him.” It seems to me that both offered hospitality, since it takes both presents and presence to truly be hospitable.
We who are the Church should first and foremost be a people of hospitality since God is hospitable to us! God welcomes all His children all the time, no matter what. Our response to this divine hospitality is to be hospitable in kind. In other words, PAY IT FORWARD. We can judge our own response to God’s hospitality to us as individuals by how hospitable we are to one another, particularly those sisters and brothers who are most unlike us. We don’t have to tie ourselves up in knots like the woman who wrote to Ann Landers. Just do the kind thing as kindly as you can (I’d like to think that I would have given them a glass and asked if they wanted ice).
And, good people of Sacred Heart Parish, you DO! I often say to our Faith Formation Director, Barbara Ferreris, that one reason our church had so many people participate in the O.C.I.A. process this year is because of how welcoming we are to our visitors here in downtown Tampa, celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, and those visitors at the end of each Sunday Mass. The hospitality shown to and how we treat our homeless sisters and brothers that make the front of the church their Sunday home, welcoming them to share coffee and donuts, sets a tone that this church understands what Jesus is asking of us.
So, let us continue to be a welcoming people who form a welcoming parish. God is noticing, and God is blessing all of us.
– Fr. Steve
