Chapter 53: The reception of guests (paragraphs 1-4)
Any guest who happens to arrive at the monastery should be received just as we would receive Christ himself, because he promised that on the last day he will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me. (From para. 1 of Ch. 53 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans.by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
Today this passage suggests to me that we are all strangers to each other, in a divine way, because of the unique mystery of Christ in each of us. To realize less would be judgmental. To accept the mystery is to be hospitable to all.
I first met Bendictine hospitality in reading Kathleen Norris’ “Cloister Walk” some six or seven years ago. Her book tells of her experiences as a Presbyterian minister and, at the same time, a guest in a Benedictine monastery near her home in South Dakota. About the same time a Buddhist monk friend of mine told me he was moving to Minnesota and I suggested to him to contact a Benedictine monastery there. He telephoned and they offered him a one year scholarship to come and live with them and share experiences with meditation. How much these true stories of Benedictine hospitality and openness to diversity touched my heart!
ReplyDeleteI regard myself as friendly and hospitable. But this self-knowledge is oftentimes challenge when it comes to being kind to people who seemed to be difficult to like. Lord, please heal my duplicity.
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