16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Genesis 18: 1-10; Colossians 1: 24-28; Luke 10: 38-42
In the three readings of today, we see an emphasis on the different aspects of hospitality and invitation. In the reading from Genesis, Abraham and Sarah receive three strangers into their midst. God rewarded their hospitality the following year in a very special way, a son. In the reading from Colossians, St. Paul offers another aspect of hospitality – to see others and to accept the sufferings that come to us as a way to fill up what is wanting /lacking in our lives. Each of us has been chosen to give witness to our faith in God. In Luke’s Gospel, Martha and Mary welcome Jesus into their home. Martha is invited to stop her work and listen to Jesus. What would have happened if she did? This is the same invitation that Jesus gives to us – STOP what you are doing, BE STILL, and LISTEN. These three examples of hospitality show us different ways that God comes to us – as a stranger, as a guest, in suffering, and in being still and listening.
The hospitality we offer should mirror God’s hospitality to us! God receives us wherever we are in our lives. We must be attentive to the many ways God speaks to us – when we are givers, when we open ourselves to others, when we answer God’s call to discipleship, when we are humble enough to receive the love and mercy of those we have offended and hurt. Sometimes we are too distracted and worried to listen attentively to Jesus’ invitation.
Have I lost sight of my mission to live and serve others in all things? Each one of us needs to stop, listen, and ask ourselves whether as a Blauvelt Dominican woman I am fulfilling this mission? Do I still offer hospitality to others? Do I accept those whom I encounter who are different from me? When God invites me, do I accept and react graciously? What is God saying to me through these readings?
Let Us Pray: Let me be Jesus to each person I encounter. Let me accept Jesus’ invitation in my heart and in my life. Let me be still and listen to God just as Abraham and Sarah, and Martha and Mary did. AMEN.
Sister Barbara Werner, OP
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