SAINT AGATHA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR (MEMORIAL)

Do not neglect hospitality.

What comes to mind when you think about hospitality? Perhaps it’s fixing a nice dinner for friends or hosting a party for your neighbors. Or perhaps it’s making your home ready for guests to stay over for a few nights. All these are good examples, but the essence of hospitality is not about a lot of fancy preparations. It’s an attitude of the heart. It’s about making others feel welcome—even if they are not technically our “guests.”

How do we cultivate such an attitude? Remember how God has welcomed you—and not only welcomed you but adopted you into his family! As St. Paul wrote about the Gentiles, we are “no longer strangers and sojourners,” but “members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). Just as God has welcomed us, he wants us to welcome all people into his kingdom. Notice that right after the author of Hebrews tells us not to “neglect hospitality,” he calls us to be mindful of prisoners and those who are mistreated (13:2, 3). Everyone deserves our welcome!

The more we adopt this attitude of welcome, the more opportunities we will find to put it into practice. That’s because an attitude like this is more than what we usually consider hospitality. It’s a way of being that permeates our facial expressions, our gestures, and our speech. All that we do and say communicates to others that we are happy to be with them and eager to get to know them better.

This can happen anywhere or anytime. It can happen as you pass a neighbor in the grocery aisle. It can happen after Mass, when you spot a family you haven’t seen at church before. It can happen as you chat on the phone with a housebound relative. What’s important is not what you do but the way you do it.

Wherever you go and whatever you do, you are surrounded by people who want and need to feel welcomed. Ask the Holy Spirit to point them out to you. You never know how far a simple act of kindness can go toward bringing someone closer to God!

“Holy Spirit, who needs my welcome today?”

Psalm 27:1, 3, 5, 8-9
Mark 6:14-29
Hebrews 13:1-8

WORD AMONG US