WAIT, EXPECT, WELCOME

The Church includes in the liturgical readings of Christmas season the story of the infant Jesus being presented in the temple (Lk 2:22-35). You remember that reads in part:

When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus

took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, ...  Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.

In this post I want to look closely at the verb that Luke uses to describe Simeon: awaiting the consolation of Israel. The word prosdechomai  has a variety of meanings, each of which can help us reflect on our own way of celebrating this holy season.

THREE MEANINGS

WAITING. The verb can mean ¨to await with confidence or patience.¨ During the holidays we can find ourselves waiting for our guests to come, as we know they will.

EXPECTING. Another related meaning of our verb is ¨to wait upon, to expect.¨ As the time draws near for the arrival of the family´s guests, the kids get more and more excited, and they sit staring anxiously out the front window, hoping to be the first to recognize their uncle´s car as it comes down the street. 

WELCOMING. a third common meaning of prosdechomai closely related to the above two is ¨to welcome. to offer hospitality. ¨

SIMEON IN THE TEMPLE

Now let´s watch Simeon as Joseph and Mary walk in carrying their baby. Simeon, we´re told, has been assured by the Lord that he would see the Messiah before he died; so, naturally, he is ¨waiting with confidence and patience." 

But even more, we can imagine him ¨waiting upon¨ and ¨expecting¨ the Messiah at any moment. He is constantly on the lookout for the fulfillment of the divine promise.

So imagine his surprise when the Spirit leads him one day into the temple and points out a babe in the arms of its young mother and announces: ¨Here he is at last, the One who is to deliver Israel! ¨ The old man responds immediately to the unlikely inspiration by ¨welcoming¨ the infant, cradling him his arms and praying, 

"Lord, now let your servant go in peace;

your word has been fulfilled:

my own eyes have seen the salvation

which you prepared in the sight of every people,

a light to reveal you to the nations

and the glory of your people Israel" (Lk. 22:29-32). 

WHAT ABOUT YOU AND ME?

Simeon is a good model for us to imitate. We might ask ourselves, ¨Am I waiting for the Lord to come into my life? ¨ ¨Are we indeed watching for him to approach us in some unexpected way? Or willwe miss Him when he comes in some unexpected way?¨ ¨Do we truly welcome Him into our lives, do we make room in our hearts for Him, or are our hearts too crammed with worldly concerns and worries? ¨ 

Let us pray that the Lord Jesus will find us as ready as Simeon was to recognize Him when He comes into our lives. May we welcome him with Simeon´s open arms.

HOSPITALITY -- BUT...

 Today we Benedictines celebrate the memorial of ¨Martha, Mary and Lazarus, Hosts of the Lord." It is a day for reflecting on our monastic tradition of hospitality. 

St. Benedict in his Rule for Monks has a whole chapter on the reception of guests, in which he directs that all guests are to be welcomed as Christ. The porter, who is in charge of answering the door, is especially charged with making sure that guests are treated with humility and generosity.

There is, however, in the chapter on hospitality, a wise lesson for all of us, including lay folks: the Rule actually shows a marked distrust of guests! As soon as a guest shows up at the door, the superior and the brothers must always pray with the guest before exchanging the kiss of peace, “because of the delusions of the devil.” Brothers are not to speak with a guest without the abbot’s permission. Experience had shown Benedict that evil influences can sometimes slip into the monastery unnoticed—forces that can slowly erode our commitment to living the gospel.

This is true for any Christian trying to follow Christ. Especially during the days of imposed isolation and quarantine, millions of people opened wide the doors of their homes via the internet to some very questionable guests in the guise of innocent relaxation, and soon these moved in and became familiar friends. And besides the internet, we welcome, for example, TV sitcoms and junk magazines.

It’s curious how we protect ourselves from harmful intruders by putting double locks and cameras on our doors and burglar alarms on our windows, but then we allow into our homes a parade of seedy strangers in movies and television programs—strangers who pose a real threat to our deepest beliefs and convictions.

Benedict knew all about the need for carefully checking out any guest who was being welcomed into the monastery. He would certainly agree, I think, that constant and indiscriminate exposure to programs and videos that glorify materialism, deceit, selfishness, and promiscuity will inevitably change our attitudes, confuse our sense of right and wrong, and weaken our commitment to following Jesus. To think otherwise, Benedict would insist, is dangerously naïve.

We are far from alone in our own homes. Lots of characters are passing in and out all the time— and some of them bear careful watching. On our life journey to the Kingdom there has to be a part of you and me that keeps asking questions: “Why am I watching this program that glorifies adultery?” “Do I really think that a steady diet of this junk will not affect my spiritual health?”

Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus, who opened their home to Jesus, are good models for us. But let us also ask their help as we try to keep out of our homes visitors who can harm us.

ANXIOUS AND WORRIED?

This Sunday's gospel passage, the story of Martha and Mary (Lk:10:38-42) is always timely, but doesn't it seem more appropriate than ever in these days when everyone seems anxious and worried about everything? Jesus is speaking n ot just to Marth, the harried hostess, but to to you and me "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one is necessary" (vv. 41-42). 

The Greek word translated as "upset" is powerful. Jesus is pointing out to Martha that her ministry of hospitality has gotten out of hand and has gotten her into an emotional uproar. The word is used of the reaction of the congregation of Christians listening to St. Paul preach when they realize that young Eutychus has just fallen out of the window. (Acts 20:10) (I guess I'd be "upset" if the guy next to me suddenly fell backward off the windowsill and landed two stories below.)

Martha, Jesus seems to be saying, has lost her sense of perspective concerning what's really important. Don't get distracted by defending the busy Martha, saying that someone's got to do the cooking and set the table. Listen instead what Jesus says to her: "Martha, you're starting to go off the rails, you're losing your sense of perspective." Of course the two sisters, who live under the same roof, must live together in harmony, sharing all the household chores, but that's not the point of the story. 

The point is one that all of us need to hear: "Be careful what you allow to become the main focus of your life; don't get so wrapped up in dozens of daily duties that you forget the one and only truly necessary thing: Your relationship with God. Jesus were to look at the way you spend your time, would he say to you what he said to his dear friend, the busy Martha?

 JULY 16  OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL

Let me recommend this lovely little article about today's feast, especially the reflection at the end.

Mount Carmel, Israel

A WAY OF SEEING OTHERS

 The other day I was part of a Zoom discussion on the Wisdom of St. Benedict for a small group of people who are preparing to serve as pastoral caregivers. Their training is based on "The Community of Hope International Pastoral Caregiver's Notebook," which s based on the spirituality of the Rule of St. Benedict. 

I was really touched by the paragraph on hospitality. But before I share that, let me reviewsmfor you the historical context on which Benedict was living.  

ST. BENEDICT'S WORLD

What was the world into which Benedict was born in 480?  

Well, things are not looking too good. Twenty-five years before Benedict's birth, Rome had been sacked for the second time. Four years before his birth, the last Roman Emperor was deposed, leaving no Emperor in the West. Benedict was watching the demise of the Roman Empire. Markets were failing, communications were becoming almost impossible, the army was non-existent. The barbarians are not only at the gates but inside -- the world was being run by barbarians: Nobody seemed to be in charge of anything. Order, of all sorts, had broken down. The great Roman institutions that had worked for so long, had collapsed, just simply stopped working.  

All the sources of security that people had counted on had crumbled, or were in the process of crumbling right before their eyes. There’s a huge social imbalance by which the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Does this sound familiar? And above all, there was the fear that goes with the shifting of familiar landmarks.  

It is into this world that Benedict is born! Young Benedict is sent to Rome to be educated, as middle class kids did back then. Took one look at  the decadence and headed for the hills of Umbria,. Benedict begins living by himself, then meets Romanus, who was living this experimental Christian life as a monk, and Benedict got initiated into this new hermit life.. 

Through the holiness of his life, young Benedict attracts others who want to live this life. Over the years he gains a lot of wisdom and experience. But he also is very well read. 

The monastic movement is already 200 years old, having started in the Middle East, certainly in  Palestine and Egypt, and was transplanted to southern France. 

THE HOLY RULE

Benedict knows these other traditions, and lists many of  them in his little Rule for Monks which he writes in  his later years. His genius is not so much as an innovator but as someone who synthesized the best of many varied traditions..  What would we expect to find in a document arising out of that troubled milieu? Build a thick-walled fortress to protect yourself? Preserve your values in concrete to withstand the pagan threat? Pull up the drawbridge and hang on?

So it’s fascinating that that’s precisely NOT what Benedict does! He refuses to give in to that fearful, defensive kind of thinking. Let me quote from a commentary on the Rule of Benedict, written by Esther de Waal, a lay woman person, who is constantly reflecting on what Benedict's insights say to her as a woman in the world:

Benedict refused to do this. He remained a man whose mind was open, just as the doors of his monastery were always open, and as he wished to have his monks have a heart open to all comers.  His Rule is, as a result, a true via media, the middle way, that holds centrifugal forces together to make them dynamic, life-giving”.  Surrounded by chaos, he comes up with an approach to life that is not reactionary or small-minded, but expansive, visionary, and life-giving.  

HOSPITALITY - A WAY OF SEEING OTHERS

Here is that passage from the handbook that I mentioned at the beginning of this post:

In sixth century Italy monasteries were the hostels where travelers and visiting monks could stop on their journeys and take refreshment and rest. Chapter 53 of the Rule is spent on the reception of guests and Chapter 61 on visiting monks. Hospitality was presumed as the norm for every monastery, for Benedict says that guests—and monasteries are never without them— should be adequately provided for with a separate kitchen, even when they come at unpredictable hours. Every guest is to be welcomed as Christ, but especially the poor, since we are naturally inclined to pay more attention to the rich. 

Hospitality ensures that the monks do not become so inwardly focused in their own schedules and agendas that they miss the opportunity to serve those who come into their midst, as Christ will say, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me."

A MIRROR FOR OUR TIMES

Think for a moment about the chaos that seems to be all around us, the breakdown of traditional morals and institutions, for example, to say nothing of the polarizing of people into hostile camps over almost everything. And then toss in the social distancing and other restrictions brought on by COVID19. It seems to me that the fear we see around us mirrors that of the world of Europe in the 500's. 

I suggest that we can take a good look at St. Benedict and try to understand and imitate his attitude and his response to the chaotic world around him. He answered to threats with an attitude of trust and openness and optimism. Threats were opportunities for him to welcome Christ in the alien, the different, even the threatening.

How about finishing this post on your own, looking at some of your own attitudes toward the world right now, toward others who are different from you or whose ideas are different from yours? Would these attitudes reflect the mind of our holy father Benedict? 

ANNOUNCING THE KINGDOM

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Today, August 24, is the feast of the apostle Bartholomew. The refrain of the responsorial psalm at mass gave me a good meditation this morning:

"Your friends make known, O Lord, 

the glorious splendor of your kingdom." 

The psalm was chosen, obviously, because Bartholomew (also called Nathaniel) and the other apostles were "friends" of the Lord who "made known the glorious splendors of His kingdom." But then, naturally, I asked myself where I fit in. 

I'd like to think that I'm one of God's "friends;" but if so, how do I make known to people "the glorious splendors of God's kingdom?" I have plenty of opportunities, of course. The most obvious example is that, as a priest I have the privilege of announcing the kingdom at mass when I read the gospel and preach about it. Then, as a teacher, especially when I'm teaching the New Testament, I have another obvious opportunity to "make known the glorious splendors of His kingdom," as I study the Gospels with my students.

But I have far more numerous opportunities than these to proclaim the kingdom: The sort of opportunities that everyday life gives you and me all the time whenever we're interacting with a brother or sister. Examples of such opportunities are endless:

When I take the trouble to visit or simply phone a shut-in or someone who's in the hospital, I'm revealing to them something about the kingdom of God's boundless love for everyone, especially the poor, the sick, and the suffering.

When I'm patient with someone who rubs me the wrong way, I'm revealing to that person something about the Lord's kingdom of unconditional love and forgive
ness.

When I encourage a student or a brother monk who is feeling sad or angry, I making known to them the glorious splendor of the kingdom that welcomes those who are suffering in mind or body.

When I treat a street person with respect and dignity, I'm giving him or her a glimpse of the splendor of God's kingdom that welcomes the marginalized, the outsider who has been forgotten and left behind by society.

So, it seems that there's always plenty of work at hand for each of us friends of the Lord to make known the glorious splendor of God's kingdom.

So, on this feast of the apostle Bartholomew, let's get to work announcing the glorious splendor of God's kingdom!

INTERTWINING LAWS

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A Surprise

A couple of weeks ago I was at a wedding (you may have read my homily from the mass in an earlier post). At the reception I found myself chatting with a young woman. (I hope she won’t mind my relating a little of our conversation.) I asked her what she did for a living. “I work at a shelter for homeless women” she answered. Thinking immediately of my friends, the Missionaries of Charity, who run such a shelter here in Newark, I enthused, “What a beautiful ministry! How do you like it?” Her face gave away her answer before her words did. She replied something like, “Well, actually I find it pretty depressing and well, I don’t know…”

As I was wondering what that was all about she added as a clarification to this priest from New Jersey, “Well, you see, I’m an atheist.” I wonder I my face gave me away at that point? What I said to myself was, “Well, no wonder you find it depressing to work with difficult, miserable, victimized, suffering people!” But I didn’t say that. It turned out that she had done graduate work in ethics and moral philosophy, but those studies didn’t seem to be sustaining her in her work with the homeless women. So we moved away quickly from the topic of work and into a delightful conversation about the development of conscience and moral growth in adolescents.

Okay, put that little encounter on hold for a minute while I tell you what made me think of her today.

The Two Great Commandments

It happened when I was studying the following Gospel passage, the one assigned for the daily mass for today (Friday). Here is most of it:

and one of [the Pharisees], a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ (Mt 22:35-40)

As many of you may know, scholars tell us that Jesus’ summary of the Law is not original with him. It’s a combination of a couple of Old Testament passages. In fact, there’s a Jewish document called The Testimonies of the Twelve Patriarchs dating from just before Christ, in which this combining of the two great commandments is found stated in much the same words as Jesus used.

So what was so special about Jesus’ response? It seems that in the similar passages in Jewish sources the two commandments, love of God and love of neighbor, stand side by side, serving together as a convenient summary of the entire Law. But we know from reading the gospels that Jesus understands the two commandments not as simply parallel to one another but as interlocking in a new and radical way: You cannot have one love if you don’t have the other love as well.

For example, if you don’t love your neighbor, Jesus taught, you can’t say you love God. “I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me to drink.” Jesus continually identifies with the poor, the outcast, the oppressed. You love the divine Lord by loving his poor. There’s no such thing in Christianity as "I love God deeply, I just don't love people."

On the other hand our Savior teaches that if you don't love God your love of neighbor will be just a barren emotion with no solid basis, no real roots. "Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:4-5). This is where my friend at the wedding reception comes in. Without trying to speak for her, it seems to me that her motivation for working with homeless people, whatever it was, was wearing pretty thin. Giving oneself to others on the basis of philosophical conviction or humanitarian principles clearly works for some, even many generous people, and I applaud them for their generosity. I just want to point out that from Jesus' point of view such earthbound motivations are of their nature limited and can very easily evaporate when adversity comes.

Mother Teresa's Secret

I frequently have the privilege of watching the Missionaries of Charity interact with poor people. And as a priest who says mass for them at least once a week I also know their secret: their boundless energy and simplicity come from a vibrant spirituality based on private prayer, common prayer, and daily mass. Everyone in the neighborhood knows, for example, that the sisters' soup kitchen is closed on Thursdays because that’s their weekly retreat day. Their foundress, Mother Teresa, knew that her sisters could never keep performing their demanding ministry day after day if they were not in close contact with Jesus, the compassionate Healer, the suffering Servant of the Lord, the despised and rejected One who rose victorious from the tomb.

For her Missionaries of Charity, love of God and love of neighbor are indeed intertwined in a single beautiful unity. The sisters live out the intimate connection between the two inseparable laws of love just as Christ laid it out for us in the gospel.

St. Benedict's Approach

Saint Benedict, writing in the 500’s, showed the same insight into the connection between love of God and love of neighbor. In Chapter 53 of his Rule for Monks, “The Reception of Guests,” he wrote:

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). …. All humility should be shown in addressing a guest on arrival or departure. By a bow of the head or by a complete prostration of the body, Christ is to be adored because he is indeed welcomed in them. …. Great care and concern are to be shown in receiving poor people and pilgrims, because in them more particularly Christ is received…

Thus our famous Benedictine tradition of hospitality is founded on those two intertwined laws in today's gospel: love of God and love of neighbor. I can only hope that the two will always work that way in the various aspects of my own life -- as a community member, a teacher, priest and so forth.

I pray for the Missionaries of Charity and for my young atheist friend that they all may continue in their own way to minister generously to God’s poor people.
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JESUS ON HOSPITALITY

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MARTHA AND MARY REVISITED

This past Tuesday the mass lectionary presented us with Luke’s story of Jesus in the home of Martha and Mary. (I reflected on this story in a post on March 2, 2009 from a slightly different angle.) I always try to avoid getting drawn into a fight between the two sisters (“Without Martha they’d all go hungry” and so on). It’s clear that the sisters represent the two necessary elements of hospitality, so there’s no need to make the two approaches opposed to each other; the two sisters have to learn to live in harmony under the same roof. The story does, however, offer us an insight or two about hospitality.

This time my reflection is based on the fact that the NT Greek words for “to welcome” and “to offer hospitality” have nothing to do with giving things or doing things for the guest. The root verb at work is, in fact, “to receive.”

Doesn’t this change the perspective a lot? “Receiving” or “accepting” a guest seems to imply that the more important part of hospitality is to pay attention to the guest, to enjoy his or her presence, and to listen to him or her. In the story of Martha and Mary Jesus points up this aspect of hospitality, turning the emphasis from providing a service to receiving a gift. Here is the story as Luke tells it:

As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary (who) sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me." The Lord said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." (Lk 10:38-42)

I agree with Luke Timothy Johnson in his commentary on this passage: “Jesus’ response to Martha makes it clear that the ‘one thing necessary’ for hospitality is attention to the guest, rather than a domestic performance.” (Sacra Pagina, Vol 3, p. 175)

SAINT BENEDICT’S APPROACH

Saint Benedict’s Rule is famous for its emphasis on hospitality, especially in Chapter 53 “The Reception of Guests.” In the very title “The Reception of Guests” Benedict tips his hand: the emphasis is going to be on “receiving” guests rather than on “entertaining” them. Here are the first few verses from that chapter:

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). Proper honor must be shown to all, especially to those who share our faith (Gal 6:10) and to pilgrims.
Once a guest has been announced, the superior and the brothers are to meet him with all the courtesy of love. First of all, they are to pray together and thus be united in peace, but prayer must always precede the kiss of peace because of the delusions of the devil.
All humility should be shown in addressing a guest on arrival or departure. By a bow of the head or by a complete prostration of the body, Christ is to be adored because he is indeed welcomed in them. After the guests have been received, they should be invited to pray; then the superior or an appointment brother will sit with them. The divine law is read to the guest for his instruction, and after that every kindness is shown to him. The superior may break his fast for the sake of a guest, unless it is a day of special fast which cannot be broken. The brothers, however, observe the usual fast. The abbot shall pour water on the hands of the guests, and the abbot with the entire community shall was their feet. After the washing they will recite this verse: God, we have received your mercy in the midst of your temple.
Great care and concern are to be shown in receiving poor people and pilgrims, because in them more particularly Christ is received. Chapter 53, vv. 1-15 (The Rule of St. Benedict, Timothy Fry, O.S.B. ed., 1981, Liturgical Press, Collegeville MN, pp. 255-257 )

I’ve taken the liberty of highlighting phrases that show that Benedict’s emphasis is on “receiving” guests as Christ rather than on “entertaining” them. Guests are valued because they are a special presence of Christ, and are thus to be welcomed with great joy and respect.

MY OWN PREFERENCE

These lessons from Luke and St. Benedict seem to me to be worth considering when you're inviting someone into your home as a guest.

Sometimes I’ll visit a family and, unless I sit in the kitchen (which is sometimes a great idea) I will never get to talk to the mother because she'll spend the whole time in the kitchen cooking this wonderful dinner. Then I’ll visit a different family and the mother will sit and visit and trade stories; then she’ll say “Excuse me; I just need a couple of minutes to put out supper. I kept it simple so that I could visit with you instead of spending the whole time cooking.”

As a guest, I'll trade the complicated dinner for the personal conversation every time. Am I missing something? Any of you cooks want to comment? What's your approach either as a guest or as a hostess or host?'

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