From Our Pastor: 13th Sunday In Ordinary Time
Our readings this weekend are focused on hospitality, welcome, and generosity. They challenge us greatly to look into ourselves to see how we respond to the immensity of God’s abundance.
Elisha is welcomed to eat at this family’s house by this woman, comes back by often to eat and so eventually she creates a place for him in their home. This is not just a story of the woman and her husband’s generosity to the prophet doing God’s work. This is a story that shows us the example to follow to welcome the Lord not only to our table but to our home and vice versa.
In the rule of St. Benedict that he wrote as the backbone of his religious community states in chapter 53: “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matt 25:35).” We are called to welcome, as if they are Christ, in the model and call of St. Benedict’s rule for his religious community. This is a tenant of their religious order and should be of all of our lives.
Here she welcomes Elisha, not only with many meals, but then makes a home for him there as well. Elisha is seen as a type of Christ, a prefigurement. May we welcome all people to our parish as Christ, but also in our lives. In this we welcome Christ not only to our parish, our lives, our meals, but to our homes. In doing this Christ, like Elisha, abundantly blesses us. Not just in the goodness of the gift of life and children as this woman and her husband were given, but in abundance of eternal life. In this we are then welcomed to His meal and His home He has prepared for us.
Jesus then continues bluntly the discussion of hospitality and welcoming not only the stranger but the disciple. How do we welcome people here at St. Francis? Hopefully radically. Do we reach out to one another and to the new face? If the answer is ‘I get in and out and don’t want to speak to Anyone’ then we have missed a major part of who we are called to be as disciples. Jesus is speaking to the apostles today to remind them to love NO ONE, period, more than the Lord. He instructs us to put the Lord first and to take up our crosses and follow after Him. He then goes on to tell us to welcome and invite. We need to do just this in our lives and in our parish. Welcome guests into our homes, and even more so to make sure we welcome all to this parish. As we do this we will be surprised in how we encounter Jesus Christ.
On a side note, many asked when we first arrived here at St. Francis for us to come to dinner, but with the stipulation we both needed to come. In the beginning this was hard especially for a new priest overwhelmed by the immensity of this place and all there was to do. Because of this I missed the opportunity to spend time with many of you who had invited and welcomed us. I would like to let you know this was not my intention. I love to spend time with families in their homes and in their lives. Fr. Rafal and I are up for any encounters for meals or welcome into your homes. We both love to eat, as you may be able to tell! I have to eat a certain way, but it isn’t too complicated. If you aren’t a cook, a shared meal out is always welcome.
Please know that your invitation was never meant to be rejected by myself. I have loved the opportunities to come to know people on a different level. It isn’t easy to find the time for meals and it isn’t easy to schedule us together, so please be patient. Please know one or both of us is always open to invitation and fellowship. It is such a great way to get to know you and your story even if just a brief meal before evening meetings and events. May we all welcome Christ into our lives and our homes and our parish together.
-Rev. Steven Arisman