Welcoming is an art. Anyone can immediately see if the other person is welcoming. They also notice if they are annoying, or if they have to make an accelerated effort to adapt to the norms of the place and the people where they are arriving. The messages are usually perceived in a clear way: “you are welcome” or “you are a nuisance and you will have to adapt”. And they are given mainly through non-verbal means, through gestures, looks, presence, distance or absence. Words may or may not follow.
Those who solemnly presume to defend the crucifix and then ignore, or worse, insult strangers, migrants, foreigners … describing them as undesirables who knock on doors, or as potential criminals who put social peace at risk, are pitiful. That same crucified Man was the one who said clearly: “Whatever you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me. Whatever you did not do to one of the least of these, you did not do to me. And to avoid any misunderstanding, he left us a sufficiently detailed list: strangers, the naked, the sick, prisoners (Mt 25, 31-46).
Along these lines, the Rule of Saint Benedict includes such suggestive lines as that of bowing before a guest who arrives at the monastery or takes leave, and reasons for this with these forceful and evangelical reasons:
“When you greet a guest, show great deference. When they arrive and when they leave, bow your heads before them, honouring Christ who is in them. By welcoming the guest, you welcome Christ”.
The affirmation of the Lord’s presence in the suffering is a powerful source of spirituality. A spirituality, obviously incarnated, that needs to be dusted off and exercised. It is easy to invite a friend to a party. Even if it is not as easy as you might think, because inviting someone means taking care of their happiness for as long as they remain under one’s own roof. But it is still more difficult to welcome an elderly person, to have lunch with a stranger, to start a conversation with a stranger, to visit a sick person, to chat with an unwelcome nuisance, to go to meet someone who needs us? We should not forget what is recorded in the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 13:2): “Do not forget hospitality, for by it some have entertained angels without knowing it”. And he was referring to none other than Abraham, our father in faith. Because good hospitality is an exercise in charity, certainly, but also in faith.
Juan Carlos Martos cmf
(PHOTO: Catholic link Español)
