Readings: Philippians 2:1-4; Luke 14:12-14
…when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled. the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
Jesus continues to teach us with banquet imagery. Today’s teaching could certainly be a foundation for monastic hospitality.
Because people trust us to respect them, they will open their souls to us as they may never share such intimate matters with a spouse, a parent or partner. This presumes an incredible level of trust and spiritual intimacy–but with God, not with me, even if with God through me.
And when we’ve served that purpose, they leave us forever, as should be. It would be wrong to betray that trust by forging dependencies for my own affirmation. True hospitality allows that light touch to welcome the self-disclosure and, at the same time, let the person go–no repayment for the courtesy.
But how we are enriched, how we are stretched, in the interchange–even by the expenditure of energy, time, attention! It can seem like a foretaste of the Resurrection life.
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