Brothers and Sisters,

The theme of hospitality runs through the Scripture readings of this Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time of the Year. The first reading tells us of the woman of Shunem treating Elisha as a “Holy man of God” and offering him hospitality. Hospitality was not only a virtue but also a sacred duty for this woman and her people. The woman was blessed with the gift of a child as a reward for her hospitality.  In the second reading, Paul tells us that hospitality offered to followers of Christ is hospitality offered to Christ himself because we are baptized into his life and into his death.  Today’s Gospel speaks of Jesus assuring his disciples that whoever shows them hospitality will be blessed in abundance.

Hospitality was one of the core virtues in Judeo-Christian traditions. Biblical literature develops the theme of the close relationship between God and the sojourner as the model of hospitality. The patriarchal stories of the Old Testament give us wonderful examples of this relationship between God and the stranger. God is encountered in the stranger and the stranger brings good news from God as in the case of Abraham and Sarah receiving the good news of the birth of their son Isaac. (Genesis 18:1-15; 19:1-11; 24:14-61).

Hospitality makes strangers friends; take away fears, doubts and suspicions; bring peace into troubled minds and hearts; moves people toward each other; helps people reach out in service; challenges people to share their possessions and experiences and much more! The places where the early Christians gathered to worship were characterized by “domestic” hospitality, which included washing of the feet, care of the sick, welcoming strangers, sharing food, care of widows and orphans and so on. Hospitality creates space where the friend can enter and feel comfortable and the stranger can enter and become friend.

I have heard the story of a woman, waiting at an airport one night. With several long hours before her flight, she hunted for a book in the airport shop, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to sit. She was engrossed in her book, but happened to see, that the man beside her, as bold as could be, grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between, which she tried to ignore, to avoid a scene. She read, munched cookies, and watched the clock. As the gutsy "cookie thief" diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by. Thinking, "If I wasn't so nice, I'd blacken his eye!" With each cookie she took, he took one too.

To read more of this Sunday’s reflection, please click on the links below…