Hospitality : Extending A Hand

"The biggest disease is not leprosy or tuberculosis,
But rather the feeling of being unwanted."
--- Mother Theresa

I've been reading this afternoon about Jesus and hospitality. There were a few articles about how Jesus extended himself to those on the fringe of society, always looking them in the eye and calling them by name. He ate with people who were considered outcasts, such as tax collectors.

Some of the pieces talked not only about how Jesus extended His hand to others in hospitality, but also healed them.

As I read, I couldn't help but think that perhaps some, if not most, of the healing came from the hospitality extended to those who felt themselves to be outsiders.

Those of us who go to Mass may not be able to heal others with miracles, but we can certainly extend hospitality. We can extend a handshake, look someone in the eye, remember someone's name. We can see that person the same way that Jesus did, creating a feeling of being wanted.

Most of us are fortunate enough to have families, jobs and social connections to help us stay connected and feel wanted. But there are some not so lucky. It may be the person in the pew beside you or behind you who has lost a friend, recently been widowed, sent a child away to college and is now a single parent home alone.

I never realized until I had a visible disability how many people feel unwanted. People will come up to me and tell me their problems in a way they didn't before. Many times, whatever the root cause of their problem, what cries out to me is that they feel as if no one cares about them.

So tomorrow when you go to Mass, remember to extend the kind of hospitality that Jesus did. Perhaps you, too, may heal someone who is suffering.