Genesis 18: 1-10 + Psalm 15 + Colossian 1: 24-28 + Luke 10: 38-42
Holy Spirit Church:   July 17, 2022


Xenophilia is not a word we hear often.   Xenophilia means, “love of strangers”. We do not use this word much at all, but it’s opposite we do—Xenophobia:  “fear of strangers.”

We live in a country and in a world where xenophobia often trumps xenophilia. But Jesus Christ and his message turns this world upside down and shakes it up by teaching us to have hearts of hospitality, to be open to loving the stranger. Instead of looking upon the person who is new or different or foreign as a threat, we are to see them through His eyes and welcome them with a hospitable heart. Remember how the Good Samaritan taught us last week to care for the stranger.

Abraham and Sarah teach us what hospitality looks like, how gracious hosts act. Those who have hospitable hearts are ever alert to the presence of strangers and to run out to greet them in welcome. Those who practice hospitality respond generously to the needs of the stranger with the best of bread and the choicest steak. Those who practice xenophilia give their full attention to the stranger by waiting on them, by being of service to them. The book of Hebrews reminds us of this truth, “Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.”  (Hebrews 13: 2)

We have learned from Jesus on this journey to Jerusalem that his disciples are to become like Him: poor and joyful and merciful. Today we learn another quality of those who sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from him---a disciple is hospitable.

We disciples of Jesus Christ at Holy Spirit Parish are granted golden opportunities to welcome the stranger, to put into practice this quality of hospitality. “Strangers” to our faith community are coming to join us every week. Each weekend I meet at least one new family before or after each Mass. By practicing hospitality, Abraham and Sarah received the great gift of new life. We do as well as these new parishioners bring new life to our parish family.
They bring their gifts and energy and vibrant faith. As we welcome them into our faith family, there are several ways we can practice this quality of hospitality on a regular basis.
From the moment someone comes into your pew, you can choose to open your heart to them in hospitality. If you are one of those Catholics who hug the end of the pew, practice hospitality by sliding down the pew when others come to your pew.

Some people may need to stay at the end of the pew, because they are serving at Mass as a lector or Communion minister, or they are a parent of a small child or they have a medical condition which may cause them to make a quick exit. These people can be hospitable by at least stepping out of the pew so those coming into the pew do not have to crawl over you. But for most people, the way to be hospitable is simply to move down—it’s a way of saying welcome.

Another way to practice hospitality before Mass is to introduce yourself to those seated on either side of you who you do not know. I am not suggesting you carry on a long  conversation with them, but simply state your name and ask for their name and speak a word of welcome. This is one of the best kinds of prayers before Mass, this awareness of the “other”, this reaching out to them in welcome.

We carry the practice of this quality of hospitality out of Mass as well by moving outside our own small group of church friends to meet and welcome others who we do not know.
Whether it’s in the gathering area after Mass or at the Sunday social sharing a cup of coffee and a donut, or at other parish gatherings, to forget yourself for a moment, to move beyond the natural nervousness and anxiety that comes from meeting a stranger, to stretch your heart a little by welcoming someone who is new to you.

If every person reached out to at least one new person every week—we would no longer be strangers to one another but instead be who we are called to be, brothers and sisters to each other in the family of God.

Pope Francis constantly challenges us to go out from our safe havens into the margins to look for the stranger, the immigrant and the poor to take care of them. Just as physical exercise is good for the organ we call the heart, so is this spiritual exercise of hospitality.
It stretches our spiritual heart and makes us not only able to love more but also to receive more love. The blessing of having a hospitable heart is one receives while giving.

Ask any one of our parishioners who participates in our ministry to the homeless on Saturday mornings, and you will hear from them how true this is: in giving we receive, in welcoming the stranger we find Christ coming to us. In fact, by reaching out to feed the homeless, or in any such act of love, we recognize our own poverty and are filled with joy by doing a deed of mercy flowing from our hospitable hearts. When we care for the stranger, the one who may be invisible to the rest of society, we recognize the presence of Christ in them. We feed Christ living in them.

But we are also fed in return. Our care and loving concern are mysteriously and abundantly repaid by the One who was hungry for love and was fed by us.

As Mary teaches us in today’s gospel, there is only one thing necessary: to be open to receive the person of Jesus Christ and his message. As we do so, we open ourselves to the mystery of Christ as he comes to us through one another, especially through the stranger.

At every celebration of the Mass, Christ Jesus himself is the Host who welcomes and feeds us from the table of the Word and the table of the Eucharist. He is the Stranger  extraordinaire, coming to us from another world, becoming one with the human family in order to welcome us into God’s family. He feeds us here with the gift of Himself, so that we may be gracious hosts and one day find Him welcoming us as the Host at the heavenly banquet.