The Grace of Hospitality
In this week’s Gospel, Jesus presents us with both the profound demands and the beautiful rewards of true discipleship. He begins with challenging words, asking us to place our love for Him above all other earthly attachments – even our closest family ties – and to willingly take up our cross. Yet this call to radical dedication quickly shifts to a comforting teaching on the power of hospitality: “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me.” Jesus assures us that even a gesture as small as offering a “cup of cold water” to a disciple carries eternal significance.
This focus on welcoming reminds us that evangelization is a deeply relational exchange of grace. However loudly and clearly the Gospel is proclaimed it will be effective only if and when it is well received. When we step out in faith to share Christ’s love, we must remember that we are not introducing God to a vacuum. That people do perceive, listen to and welcome God’s envoys indicates that they already know God, however vaguely.
The desire for the Divine is woven into the very fabric of the human heart. Their acceptance is a recognition, a realisation of God’s innate call, which is stimulated and encouraged by the apostolic testimony. This truth should give us profound hope and relieve us of the burden of feeling like we must do all the heavy lifting ourselves. Wherever the Gospel is preached, God’s Spirit is already working. Our task is simply to cooperate with the grace that is already actively moving in our communities.
Yet to be effective cooperators, we must first examine our own interior lives. We should, first of all, reflect today on how we, successors of the first apostles, receive God into our lives, because if we are to represent him to others we must ensure that we are receiving and welcoming him. We cannot share a hospitality of spirit that we have not first cultivated ourselves. Let us use this time to clear away the spiritual clutter in our own hearts, making a welcoming space for Christ, so that we might authentically recognize and draw out His presence in everyone we meet.
Fr Stephen Berecz
