Hospitality

I have been reading "Radical Hospitality: Benedict's way of love" since I got back from the Abbey.

It is a relaxed and chatty book, two authors writing their shared story, as well as their own monastic and lay experience of living out a spirit of hospitality. A great example:

"When we create a life surrounded by people exactly like us, it is a very narrow life. We will not be challenged by such a life ... letting ourselves believe that our experience constitutes normality and that other ways of life (and I add, belief) are abnormal, is both delusional and dangerous"

I love the idea of hospitality. It is easy to open my door to the people on our street, the community, to family. To people I agree with. But to those with whom I disagree? To those who make me uncomfortable? Where do I draw the line?

The Benedictine way is to welcome the stranger, the other, and to care for them as if you are seeing Christ in them, which of course, if we look the right way, we are. By meeting their needs, making them comfortable, feeding them, speaking kind words, we show hospitality, and love.
We need not go out of our way to find the stranger, the other. Our lives throw up opportunities for care every day. Our spouse. Our children. Our neighbour. The postman. All can be welcomed in their way as Christ.

But what a Challenge!