16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Gn 18:1-10a
Ps 15:2-3, 3-4, 5
Col 1:24-28
Lk 10:38-42

We might call today "hospitality Sunday." Our Gospel story is the familiar account of Jesus visiting the home of Martha and Mary. Martha sounds a lot like my Italian grandmother. I remember how, as a child growing up in the house where my grandmother lived, I would watch her prepare for Sunday company. Guests who came to our house would be the center of attention. My grandmother would work feverishly before the guests arrived to prepare the meal. During the meal she would fuss at them, to make sure they had enough to eat—of every dish on the table. Woe to you if you failed to sample everything my grandmother had prepared! She imitated Martha's busy concern for guests, making sure they had all they needed.

But there's another side of hospitality besides fussing over the food or accommodations for a guest. It’s taking the time to listen, to give the other our full attention. Last Sunday the story of the Good Samaritan urged us to take a risk to become involved with others as a true neighbor. Today we have the "how-to" of Christian neighborliness. In our parishes, neighborhoods and city, we need both dimensions of Christian hospitality: actively serving while we seek to truly listen and understand.

Scripture:

•Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet, and then rest yourselves under the tree. (Genesis 18:4)

•Who will dwell with the Lord? One who walks blamelessly and does justice; who thinks the truth in his heart. (Psalm 15:1,2)

•…it is Christ in you, the hope for glory. It is he whom we proclaim… (Colossians 1:27b,28a)
•She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. (Luke 10:39)

Reflection:

•Do you find Christ (and through Christ, God the Father) through a busy life or sitting quietly “listening to him speak”?

•How do you “walk blamelessly and do justice”?

•Do you take time to “bathe your feet, and then rest yourself under a tree”?

•What is Christ asking and giving to you?

•Discuss some ways that you may proclaim Christ.

Remember, even those who live justly do so not through human merits but through divine helps. No persons live justly unless they have been made just; and humans are made just by Him who can never be unjust. As a lamp is not lighted by itself, so the human soul does not give light to itself but calls out to God: “You indeed, O Lord, give light to my lamp.”