Hospitality
We often come together – as friends, family or community - to share special occasions: national or religious holidays, birthdays, remembering loved ones, honoring those who have served our community or country. We experience “hospitality” in its best sense.
May we also strive to share the Benedictine spirit of hospitality….. beyond friends, associates, family……to strangers or those having a different opinion or perspective on life and living. Peace.
“Let everyone that comes be received as Christ"
“Hospitality” (Greek translation = “love of the stranger”)
“Radical Hospitality is at the heart of Christianity. No one has ever been more radically welcoming than Jesus, who was always accused of associating with the wrong kind of people…….Instead of seeking persons who will support the congregation, actively seek persons who need the support of the congregation…….. To become hospitable means finding ways to welcome the marginalized, forgotten, and misunderstood among us.” -Radical Hospitality -Benedict’s Way of Love-Paraclete Press
Jesus said: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
Leviticus 19:34 The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were a stranger in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.
1 Peter 4:9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
“ Even if you have only bread or water, with these you can still meet the dues of hospitality. Even if you do not have these, but simply make the stranger welcome and offer him a word of encouragement, you will not be failing in hospitality. Think of the widow mentioned in the Gospel by our Lord: with two mites she surpassed the generous gifts of the wealthy.
Theodoros, the Great Ascetic
“Lift up and stretch out your hands, not to heaven but to the poor; for if you stretch out your hands to the poor, you have reached the summit of heaven. But if you lift up your hands in prayer without sharing with the poor, it is worth nothing."
St John Chrysostom
“Hospitality…the greatest of virtues. It draws the grace of the Holy Spirit towards us. In every stranger’s face, I see Christ himself. Love giving hospitality, for it opens the gates of Paradise. Entertain strangers so that you won’t be a stranger to God.”
Elder Makris