The Virtue of Hospitality
You are the salt of the earth
In the Gospel for the Mass today, Jesus teaches: You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing and can only be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a basket; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:13-16
A faith that is personal, not private
Your faith must be personal, but it must not remain private. God expects us to share our faith with others and not hide it under a basket. Paul writes in Romans chapter 10, For, “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? The word for preaching in Greek is to make it public. This does not normally mean to go out in the street and preach; and it certainly doesn’t mean to force your faith or opinions upon others. It means, let your faith be known when the circumstances are right. Salvation comes from faith and faith comes through friendship. As Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “God comes to people through people. And St. Francis of Assisi once told a brother who was struggling with doubts: “Do not be troubled brother, but through friendship learn faith.”
God’s original plan
God’s original plan, which is still in effect, was that faith would be passed on from parents to children and from friends to friends. This was to take place by means of friendship and good conversation. But to have friendship and good conversation it only makes sense that we invite people to where we live and then give them hospitality. Everyone gives St. Martha crap because she was distracted with all the serving and complained to Jesus about her sister Mary. But let’s not miss a very important point, Jesus was in the home of Martha because she invited him and gave him hospitality. And the result was that Martha, Mary and their brother Lazarus became some of the best friends of Jesus. We find Jesus at the house of Martha many times in the Gospel. Oh and by the way, it was probably as a result of the hospitality and friendship that Jesus raised their brother from the dead. Let’s also not forget, Martha is a Saint and we celebrate her feast every year on July 29. Hospitality, inviting people into your home to foster friendship through good conversation that leads to faith and prayer is a big deal. In fact, it is your primary mission as a Christian - for Jesus only gave one mission to the Church – to Make Disciples of All Nations.
Getting out of your comfort zone through hospitality
Hospitality takes effort and the sacrifice of our comfortable routines and puts us at risk of dealing with annoying or difficult people that may cost us something: C.S. Lewis in his book, The Four Loves writes:
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and agitations of love is Hell.”
We have lost the virtue of hospitality in our culture
Because of air-conditioning, TV, and the internet, people no longer gather naturally together on front porches. Houses went from being welcoming with actual “Welcome” mats to the most prominent thing you see on a house is the garage with the door closed. Not very welcoming.
Furthermore, we have created a world with prepackaged meals, microwaves, Door Dash, Amazon Prime, and the internet, we could go days without really interacting with another human in person. We have created the worst form of punishment and torture, isolation, and chosen it for ourselves.
The devil is the divider, diabolos. He separates and divides because he knows the power of two things, friendship with God in prayer and friendship with others in which they talk about their faith, these two acting as a one two punch completely disarm him. Add the Rosary to that and you have an unstoppable force to chain the devil and throw him back into the abyss of hell.
To be the salt of the earth and light of the world doesn’t mean you have to go anywhere – learn the lesson of Martha – she invited Jesus into where she lived, gave him hospitality, friendship, good conversation and prayer – and she became a saint.