“All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed me (Matt 25:35)” (RB 53:1). I think we all understand the importance of this passage from the Rule but I wonder if we think about it at any great depth? We often make room and time for the person who comes to our home for a visit, but how happy are we when we do so? Does it not often depend on who it is? Do we really treat all visitors the same? And do we see Christ in each visitor we entertain? As relatives and friends begin to visit during the summer, perhaps we can keep this part of the Rule in mind, particularly when it is not our favorite relative or the one who stays a few days longer than we prefer. Let us start this vacation season remembering that we are to greet all guests as Christ.
Let us also remember, as Benedictines, we should make time for the most important guest of all, Jesus Christ himself. Fr. Demetrius Dumm, OSB, in his book Cherish Christ Above All, reminds us: “… the essence of monastic witness is expressed in the words vacare Deo, that is “to make room for God (page 145).” For those of us old enough to remember, we used to sing about “those lazy, hazy, crazy, days of summer.” Somehow summer has become even crazier than we remember over the past 20 or so years. People are constantly on the go during the summer. It was even observed by the late Holy Father, John Paul I, that we seem to come back from vacation even more exhausted than when we left (Illustrissimi, 1978). It is easy to let all the events that occur in the summer crowd out God in our daily life.
Fr. Dumm reminds us if Benedictines “… have a reputation for hospitality it is first of all because they are hospitable toward God’s mystery (Dumm, p. 145).” We must make room, make the time, to spend with our Lord. Too often we let the busyness of the summer over-ride our obligations as host to Jesus, but he, too, requires our attention just as any other guest – more so when we remember “…Hospitality to other human beings and respect for their mystery flows naturally out of deep reverence for God’s presence (Dumm, p. 146).” So do not relax your discipline of Lectio and Liturgy of the Hours. Make sure the time set aside with Our Lord is unhurried, deliberate and special. Only then can we be truly good hosts to the guests we will welcome.
George K. Cobb, OblSB
