VERBUM DOMINI

Welcoming the Lord

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My family has always been known for its hospitality. My parents always made it a point to welcome people into our home. Some of my favorite family memories are of summer cookouts and dinners at our house. To this day, my parents still host cookouts and even Sunday dinners. Any one who ever visits the Najim home always feels welcome.

Hospitality is an important human virtue. It’s important that we know how to make people feel welcome and accepted. When we think of hospitality we think of it with regard to our home life. This Sunday’s Gospel, however, invites us to think of hospitality in another way: Are we hospitable to the Lord Jesus? Do we welcome him into our lives?

Jesus says to his Apostles, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” In other words, Jesus says that he will make his home in us. On the day you and I were baptized, God himself came to dwell in us. The Holy Trinity came to dwell in our souls. That’s an awesome reality!

The fact that the Lord has made his home in us, however, does not necessarily mean that we are hospitable to him. Think of some traits of hospitality. What do you do when you are hosting? You tidy the house, you prepare food and drink, you make sure things are in order. And when company arrives, you welcome them; you engage them in conversation; you spend time with them. These traits of hospitality should mark our relationship with the Lord.

For example, do we keep our souls in order? If the Lord dwells in us, then we need to keep our inner house clean for him. We would never go years (or even months) without cleaning your house. Why should we treat our spiritual lives any differently? But some of us do. We need to keep up with the cleaning of our interior house (Confession) so that the Lord will feel welcome. If our soul is cluttered with junk (bad thoughts, bad habits, unrepented sins), then there’s no room for Jesus.

Another question: Is our inner door open for the Lord or is it locked? Jesus wants to speak to us, but if we don’t keep the inner door of our hearts open then we won’t hear his voice. Do we spend time in conversation with the Lord? Conversing with a friend is hospitable. To be hospitable to the Lord we should take time every day to have an interior conversation with him.

Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” When we welcome the Lord into our lives with hospitality, when we “keep his word” in our hearts, it is then that we experience his peace.

Father Michael Najim is Spiritual Director of Our Lady of Providence Seminary, Providence, as well as Catholic Chaplain at LaSalle Academy, Providence.