Hospitality

One of the ways we live in God is to extend God's hospitality to all. As an old Irish rune says, ''Often goes the Christ in the stranger's guise."

The woman of Shunem offered hospitality to the prophet Elisha in the form of dinner and a place to stay. He rewarded her hospitality with the promise of a son. Christ explains to us just what hospitality means: ''Whoever receives you receives me'' and shall not lack for a reward. As theologian Paul Wadell teaches, when we offer hospitality, we not only offer food and drink, or a place to stay, or other kindness, we offer ourselves; we offer our attention to a stranger's story, wherein we learn another person's perspective, and in doing so we listen to God's story.

In warning us that ''Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me..." and also, ''Whoever finds [their] life will lose it, and whoever loses [their] life for my sake will find it'' Jesus proposes that we cultivate detachment from things that we now consider primary in our lives. Christ loves us and wants us to put him first before other commitments or desires. Our hospitality to strangers puts Christ before ourselves in just this way.