Homily
for July 22, 2007
Liturgical Year C - Cycle I
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. Joshua Nioni Topic:
Hospitality
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Reading I
Gn18:1-10a The LORD appeared
to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre,
as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot.
Looking up, Abraham saw three men standing
nearby. When he saw them, he ran from
the entrance of the tent to greet them; and bowing to the ground, he
said:
“Sir, if I may ask you this favor, please do not go on past your
servant. Let some water be brought, that you may bathe
your feet, and then rest yourselves under the tree. Now that you
have come this close to your
servant, let me bring you a little food, that you may refresh
yourselves; and
afterward you may go on your way.” The
men replied, “Very well, do as you have said.” Abraham hastened
into the tent and told Sarah, “Quick,
three measures of fine flour! Knead it and make rolls.” He ran to
the herd, picked out a tender,
choice steer, and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it.
Then Abraham got some curds and milk, as well
as the steer that had been prepared, and set these before the three
men; and he
waited on them under the tree while they ate. They asked
Abraham, “Where is your wife Sarah?” He
replied, “There in the tent.” One of
them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and
Sarah
will then have a son.” Gospel
Lk 10:38-42 Jesus 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.”
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This scripture today is about
hospitality. I would like you to think about how
hospitable you are and see if maybe there is a need for a few
corrections here
and there. We will see. The first reading as we heard, tied
in so
well with the Gospel. In the first
reading, we had Abraham and Sarah who seemingly are doing very well
economically, but they had no heir, they have no son. what do we
see? We see three men visiting
them. What do they do? They offer them hospitality.
In a way, it is a time to relax, to rest, and
to have, a fine meal. You know when you
are tired you need that. This is what
they were given. When the three men
left, they promised Abraham the birth of a child. I think that was
really good
news to Abraham. That we see is the
blessings of hospitality. In the letter
to the Hebrews, when speaking about this act of hospitality, it says
this, “Do
not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly
entertained
angels.” So, there you are. You never know. In the Gospel, we see another example
of
hospitality. Martha and Mary welcome
Jesus into their home. When you welcome
someone in your home, what do you do? As
we all know, there is no one-way to be hospitable. In fact, there
are many expressions of
hospitality and these include welcoming the person, listening to the
person,
and serving the person. This is what we
see happening in the Gospel today. While
each expression is valuable, none is complete in itself, nor an end in
itself. It is an expression. The hospitality in its deepest
meaning, I
would say makes possible that personal encounter, which is what we see
happening in the Gospel today. This is
the very kind that Mary did with Jesus, for Jesus. Jesus responds
to this act as the better
part. It is here that we see that very
profound and fundamental meaning of hospitality. It entails
welcoming the other, surrendering
to the other, hearing the other, the message that comes from the other.
Facilitating, I would say, that personal
encounter. In a way, you meet the
person, facilitating the personal encounter.
On the other hand, Martha seemed to be
anxious and
worried, losing sight of the guest, in a way wrapped up completely in
her
tasks, which are good. What do we see Mary
doing? Mary, in a way, surrendered to
listening to the guest. In real life,
you’ll agree with me, that there are many Marthas, these are people who
are
activity centered, they work to do things, to do this, that, and the
other. You all know for instance, let me
give an example. You have for instance a
task. If you give it to so and so, you know that it will be done but
once you
give it to the other guy, it will take ages.
If you give it to me, I’m telling you it would take ages.
There are Marthas in life and there are also Marys. These are the
very people who are, in a way,
contemplating. They do very little. Shall I ask you a very personal
question? Will you allow me to do that? Now ask yourselves,
are you a Martha or a
Mary, or both? What are you? Don’t answer me, answer your
God. The story of Martha and Mary, I would
say, it conveys a
double lesson to us about us in relation to our God. What do we
say? If we are never a Martha nothing is going to
get done, you will agree with me.
However, if we are never a Mary, in the presence of God, very little is
ever going to happen, and I qualify this, in the right way.
We need those quite times before our God and
we also need those active moments for God.
The Mary moments and the Martha moments are essential in our lives. May we ask today that the good Lord
may grant us to
strive for balance, which is what we need.
May God help us.