Saint Martha, Thank You for Your Example of Hospitality!
The feast of our patroness St. Martha is July 29, Friday of this week, so we are doing three things to honor her feast day. First, the cover of the bulletin is chosen in her honor. Second, our daily Mass this Friday will be moved from St. Mary church to St. Martha church in Plainville (like our usual collaborative daily Mass on Saturday is at St. Martha). Third, I am using this occasion to write about her example of hospitality and how we strive to live that Christian virtue in our lives and in our PWC Parishes of St. Martha and St. Mary.
Last weekend we heard the gospel passage about Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus and friends of Jesus. I’ll try not to repeat what you read in Fr. Lambert’s column last week or heard in the weekend homilies, but suffice to say Jesus was not criticizing Martha for her hospitality! The first reading that went with it revealed how the hospitality Sarah and Abraham showed the three travelers became an encounter with the Lord himself and the answer to their prayers. As individuals, we need to be prudent in our encounters with strangers, but it is often when we reach out to others that God gives us new insights to reflect upon and helps to put our own worries into perspective.
We also practice hospitality collectively, and you have a reputation of being welcoming communities. The four values our collaborative parishes have chosen – welcome, love, compassion, and boldness - also guide us in living this Christian virtue. We expanded our hospitality ministries (ushers and greeters) during the pandemic, but their role is just as important in ordinary times. They represent Christ and the parish family in welcoming and serving the people in the congregation. If we want to draw people into worshiping with us, we need greeters and ushers to help people to feel their presence is important to us. By arriving a little early and making themselves available before and during Mass, they help people find what they need and know there is someone they can approach with questions.
Yet this virtue is not just the responsibility of those in hospitality ministries. I found this meaningful quote from Father Eugene Walsh, S.S.:
The celebrating community can bring itself alive when all the members of the community acknowledge a direct and primary responsibility of hospitality to one another. Hospitality best translates the meaning of Christian love. Hospitality is a form of caring enough for others to give them space in your life and to welcome them in…. Hospitality is precise and careful in its demands. It does not seek any long-term friendship or lasting relationships. It asks for presence and attention from each member of the community for the duration of the celebration.
So even if we are not interested in forming new friendships, we are still called to be attentive to the needs of our brothers and sisters around us. If we notice they are looking for something or are struggling to juggle caring for multiple children during Mass, perhaps we can offer some assistance, or at least a kind word of encouragement so they know their efforts to join us in praising the Lord are appreciated.
Finally, the following prayer is on the welcome cards in the pews at St. Martha Parish include the following prayer. May we all make this our heartfelt prayer this week and beyond.
O Saint Martha, teach me to offer the simple gifts of kindness and hospitality to others as you did to Jesus and His friends. Let my hands be open to God’s Word in my life. Bless and pray for all those who come to my door. Amen.