Practicing Hospitality in Lent
Lent is a time in the Church for penitence and conversion, for prayer and fasting. On the surface, Lent might not seem to have much relationship to hospitality. We tend to associate hospitality with entertaining, sharing food, laughter and company. At Benedictine, we base our understanding of hospitality in part on the passage from the Rule of St. Benedict, where he says, “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ.” This means that we welcome everyone we meet – those we serve in our ministries, our colleagues, visitors, everyone – as if we were receiving a personal visit from God.
If you think of the magnitude of this idea, you will see how hospitality and Lent are connected. Would you want to welcome God into a house that was messy, dirty, so filled with stuff that He couldn’t sit down? Would you want to welcome Christ into a place where you had nothing to offer for refreshment? That is what Lent is all about, cleaning our souls up and getting rid of junk in order to make room to welcome Him in, and filling our hearts up with good things to offer Him – love, kindness, patience, courage and faithfulness.
Lent is about abstinence and cleansing, but it is also about cultivating good habits, caring for others, and taking time to pray – to open our hearts to God and invite Him in.
- Sister Joan Marie Stelman, OSB, senior vice president, Mission Integration