July 21, 2013
8 & 10 am Mass
16th Sun Ord Time
Gen 18:1-10a; Col 1:24-28; Luke 10:38-42
The readings today on this 16th Sunday in Ordinary time focus on the aspect of hospitality. So, we must ask ourselves, what is hospitality? For myself, I learned what hospitality is from my parents. Growing up I witnessed how my mom and dad would welcome anyone who came to their door, whether it was relatives or close friends or people they barely knew, they would always welcome them and make them feel at home. My dad would offer them something to drink and invite them to take a seat and relax. My mom, being half Hispanic and half Filipino, would always insist they had something to eat whether they were hungry or not! She would say, “I don’t have much prepared” then she would put out a spread fit for a king! Basically, my parents made all who came through their door feel wanted and welcomed. That is hospitality.
And in today’s scripture passages we see different examples of it. In our 1st reading from Genesis, Abraham goes out of his way to show hospitality to 3 visitors who had been journeying in the hot desert sun, welcoming them and providing for them an opportunity to freshen up and blessed them with a lavish meal even though he told them, “Let me bring you a little food (sounds like my mom).” In the Gospel Martha and Mary welcome Jesus into their home as their special guest.
By our Baptism we are called to be stewards of God’s gifts as we heard in our 2nd reading from St. Paul, which applies to us also, “I am a minister in accordance with God’s stewardship given to me.” And one of the foundational elements of stewardship is hospitality… This morning I would like to talk about 3 ways hospitality should be manifested in our lives as Christian stewards. There are several different ways but I will focus on 3.
(1) To be a steward of hospitality we must first welcome Jesus into the home of our hearts. We must allow Him to dwell within us, we must make Him feel welcome and wanted in our hearts and in our lives. He doesn’t force His way in, He waits to be allowed in. Revelation Chapter 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.” Jesus is a gentleman and will not force His way in. There is no doorknob on the outside of our hearts, only on the inside. We are the only ones who can let Him in. And this is not a onetime thing, but must happen daily. We must be like Mary in the Gospel who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to Him. When we welcome Jesus into our hearts and lives, when we show hospitality to Him, then we can be stewards of hospitality to others, which we are all called to do. Then we will be equipped for the other aspects of hospitality that I am about to discuss.
(2) We are called to be stewards of hospitality in our homes, among our family. Yes we are called to show hospitality to visitors and strangers like in last week’s Gospel about the Good Samaritan but just as important but maybe more difficult, is to show hospitality to our own family members. How do we do this? By living a life daily that reflects Christ dwelling within us and in our home by showing respect, love and compassion to one another in our family. By remembering that Christ lives inside each member of the family and when we interact with each other we are interacting with Christ Jesus Himself. We need to think of each member in the family as a brother or sister in the Lord, a child of the King. Don’t make Jesus cover His eyes and His ears because of what He sees and hears in our homes, the way we treat and speak to each other. Hospitality in the home is being Christ for each other, by not looking to be served but to serve. This can only be done through family prayer such as the Rosary and the regular attendance of Sunday mass together. The well-known saying is so true, “The family that prays together stays together.” Hospitality in the home through Christ is what keeps the family strong and united. The traditional family is so vital for the good of the Church and for the good of society.
(3) We are called to be stewards of hospitality in our parish community, our church family. Who are the ministers of hospitality here at church? The ones who greet you at the entrance with a big smile and a handshake, and show you to a seat when you are late (ha, ha)? Yes they are hospitality ministers, but not just them, every one of us who walk through the church doors, by virtue of our Baptism, are to be hospitality ministers. We are all to go out of our way like Abraham to greet our brothers and sisters coming to mass and make them feel welcome and wanted. We are to greet before and after mass not only those we already know but especially those we do not. When people feel welcome and wanted they feel a sense of belonging and they feel a part of the community. And when parishioners feel a sense of belonging they respond with the joyful sharing of their gifts to help the parish flourish and become the best parish community possible. When this happens the light of Christ shines through that community. This is the reason why we do certain things at Resurrection under the direction of our pastor to foster the spirit of welcoming: it is why we have ministers at every entrance including downstairs, the reason for the hospitality table in the patio and the reason before mass starts the commentator asks you to greet those around you. This is the reason for the food ministry. Sure it helps raise funds for the parish but it also creates community. And it is the reason we have Welcome Sunday here at our parish for new parishioners. If someone is interested in joining our community we don’t just have them fill out paperwork and stick them in the database, which is so cold and impersonal. We go a step further in the spirit of hospitality and stewardship by inviting them to a Welcome Sunday and we get to know them and they us. The Welcome Sunday Team lets them know face to face that we are so grateful and thankful that they have decided to join our Resurrection family. They come out of Welcome Sunday with a great sense of belonging and are willing to share themselves and their gifts in helping this community flourish (one scheduled today after 10 am mass)…Before my family and I moved to Escondido back in 1996 we lived in LA and were members of St. Margaret Mary parish which was known in the diocese as a very welcoming parish. So when we moved here we were looking for a parish community with the same welcoming spirit. We checked out a few of the Catholic churches in the area, and nothing against them, but it just wasn’t the right fit for us. But from the first time we came to Resurrection we felt a similar welcoming spirit as our previous parish. We immediately knew this was the place for us…And even though Resurrection is very welcoming we always need to strive to improve. That takes each one of us to have a sense of ownership for our parish and to do our part to make it a place where people feel welcome and wanted…A great opportunity to improve in hospitality which the Lord has given to us here at Resurrection is the building of our new permanent church building. We all have the opportunity to be a part of this campaign to provide a beautiful place of worship where all will be welcomed and wanted now and for generations to come.
In closing and to summarize, the 3 ways we focused on this morning on how hospitality should be manifested in our lives as Catholic Christians are: (1) welcome Jesus into the home of our hearts; (2) be stewards of hospitality in our homes; and (3) be stewards of hospitality in our parish community. If we do this it will carry over to our circle of influence out in the world…So I leave you with a Stewardship Parish prayer which I adapted to include the family. I hope we all make this prayer our own because hospitality starts with us as individuals. The prayer is this:
My family and my parish are composed of people like me. I help make it what it is.
They will be friendly, if I am friendly. They will be holy if I am holy.
They will do great work, if I do great work.
They will be prayerful, if I am prayerful.
They will be generous if I am generous.
They will bring others into worship, if I invite and bring them in.
They will be loyal, loving, fearless and faithful, compassionate, charitable and merciful, if I am filled with these things.
Therefore, with the help of God, I now dedicate myself to the task of being all the things that I want my family and my parish to be.
Amen.