READINGS FOR THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR C, SUNDAY 20TH JULY, 2025.
First Reading: Genesis 18: 1-10
Psalm: 14
Second Reading: Colossians 1: 24-28
Gospel: Luke 10: 38-42
REFLECTION BY FR CORNELIUS NWAOGWUGWU, CM.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HOSPITALITY.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I welcome you all to the Eucharistic celebration of the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C. Today’s reflection, renews my thinking about the wonders and significance of hospitality.
It is wonderful to realise the diverse nature of hospitality. Hospitality is relevant over the centuries and still significant in our time. Theologians, Philosophers, Sociologists, Anthropologists and Political Scientists have devoted considerable attention to the meaning and understanding of hospitality.
The term hospitality is derived from the Latin word hospes, which means “host”, “guest”, or “stranger”. From the historic perspective, hospitality involves welcoming the stranger and offering food, shelter and safety with goodwill.
Religious view holds that Judaism praises hospitality to strangers and guests. In Christianity, hospitality is a virtue. This virtue is found in the Old Testament (Genesis 18:1–10 and Genesis 19:1–8). In the New Testament, Jesus said, “I was a stranger, and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35). It means that those who had welcomed a stranger had welcomed Jesus.
Jacques Derrida an Algerian-born French philosopher offers a model to understand hospitality from two perspectives: conditional hospitality and unconditional hospitality.
In contrast to the model proposed by Jacques Derrida, St. John Paul II said: “Welcoming our brothers and sisters with care and willingness must not be limited to extraordinary occasions but must become for all believers a habit of service in their daily lives.” (“Address of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to volunteer workers.” Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Saturday, 8 March 1997).
In general terms, the meaning of hospitality is based on the belief that strangers should be assisted and protected. From this understanding, hospitality entails the generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.
Hospitality is about friendliness, helpfulness, kindness, kind-heartedness, cordiality, amicability and generosity. It is also, the way people treat others through the service of welcoming and receiving guests into our homes in a manner of unconditional warm-heartedness.
In our Gospel today, Martha welcomed Jesus into her house while her sister Mary sat down at the Lord’s feet and listened to him speaking. (Luke 10: 38-42).
It is a great virtue to welcome people into our homes. It is important to give a warm welcome to our guests. Welcoming is an outstanding value that is rewarding. In welcoming people, we welcome God without knowing. This is exactly what happened in our first reading today.
Abraham “saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed to the ground. ‘My lord,’ he said ‘I beg you, if I find favour with you kindly do not pass your servant by. A little water shall be brought; you shall wash your feet and lie down under the tree. Let me fetch a little bread and you shall refresh yourselves before going further. That is why you have come in your servant’s direction.’ They replied ‘Do as you say.” (Genesis 18: 1-10).
Abraham provided his guests with food, refreshments and lodging. He welcomed the Lord into his home without knowing. Abraham’s guest said, “I shall visit you again next year without fail, and your wife will then have a son.” Abraham’s warm-heartedness to his guests was rewarded with his heart’s desire: his wife Sarah gave birth to a son.
This is a big revelation to all of us. It shows that kindness elicits kindness. Love elicits love. In giving, we receive. Kind- heartedness, hospitality and generosity work for our good.
Whenever we welcome our guests cordially, we will most certainly be rewarded in one way or another. We are invited to be a welcoming and listening people in a spirit of faith.
We pray for the grace to welcome God’s Word into in our hearts and to be enriched generously in sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ now and for ever. Amen.
Fr. Cornelius Nwaogwugwu, CM.