In his letter to the Hebrews, St. Paul reminds them and us today to remember always to welcome strangers, for by doing this, some have entertained angels without knowing it’.
This was exactly what the woman in the first reading did for the Elisha the Prophet. She welcomed him and made him feel at home in her own house. Hospitality was her act of love and ministry.
In the gospel for this Sunday Jesus clearly says that he is above everyone and everything in our lives – even family! But this does not mean that we ignore or dismiss others, especially those who might be in any sort of need. If we say that we are indeed Christian and follow the message and example of Jesus, then we are to be actively concerned about others around us. Jesus also says that whoever welcomes and serves his followers, welcomes and serves him.
There would be something seriously wrong if we said that we were followers of Jesus and the gospel, but the quality of our daily lives did not show this. There would be something not quite right if we said we believed in loving our brothers and sisters, but our actions showed the opposite. As the Letter of St. James reminds us; ‘faith, if good deeds do not go with it, is quite dead’.
When we gather to pray with each other at the Eucharist, we do so as brothers and sisters of Jesus and each other. Just before mass ends, we are sent out with these words of mission, ‘Go now to love and serve the Lord’. Having heard the word of God and shared the Body and Blood of Christ, we are sent out to love and serve the Lord by loving and serving each other. Having prayed and precisely because we have prayed, we are to turn our attention to our brother and sisters, especially those who are in most need.
Oscar Romero was Archbishop of San Salvador for three years. He was murdered while saying mass on 24 March 1980. He said; A religion of Sunday Masses but unjust week days does not please the Lord, a religion of much prayer but with hypocrisy in the heart is not Christian’.
Through the gospel, we hear Jesus asking us to commit our daily lives to him as his followers. May we also reach out and offer hospitality and kindness to those around us, especially those most in need of our help.
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Oblates exercise very diverse ministries but above all seek to dedicate themselves to the poor and abandoned. One can thus find Oblates in Britain and Ireland working in parishes, in missionary formation, preaching, social justice and pastoral ministries, or prisons. “No ministry is alien to us as long as we never lose sight of the main purpose of the Congregation: the evangelization of the most abandoned.” ~ Oblate Constitutions and Rules.
