Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church

Homily for July 22, 2007
Liturgical Year C - Cycle I
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Fr. John Carney
 Topic: Hospitality
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Reading I
Gn 18:1-10a
The LORD appeared to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre, as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot.  Looking up, Abraham saw three men standing nearby.  When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them; and bowing to the ground, he said: “Sir, if I may ask you this favor, please do not go on past your servant.  Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet, and then rest yourselves under the tree.  Now that you have come this close to your servant, let me bring you a little food, that you may refresh yourselves; and afterward you may go on your way.”  The men replied, “Very well, do as you have said.”
 
Abraham hastened into the tent and told Sarah, “Quick, three measures of fine flour! Knead it and make rolls.”  He ran to the herd, picked out a tender, choice steer, and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it.  Then Abraham got some curds and milk, as well as the steer that had been prepared, and set these before the three men; and he waited on them under the tree while they ate.
 
They asked Abraham, “Where is your wife Sarah?” He replied, “There in the tent.”  One of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah will then have a son.”
 
Gospel
Lk 10:38-42
Jesus entered a village  where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.  Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?  Tell her to help me.”  The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.  There is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”
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Obviously, there is a theme today in the readings from scripture, and the theme is hospitality.  We have two examples of hospitality:  hospitality done right and hospitality done wrong.  We see it done right in Genesis where Abraham encounters these three strangers.  This is a rather strange story unless you know all the details.  Abraham stops them and insists that  they enjoy his hospitality.  It is a hot day, and so he says to them to stop, rest, and I’ll prepare a delicious meal for you and I’ll wash your feet.  Spend some time with us and be refreshed.  Of course, they do this and at the end, one of the strangers says, “Where is Sarah?”  And he says, “She’s in the tent.”  He replies, “I’ll return next year and she will have a child, she’ll have a son.”  Of course, that son was Isaac.  Isaac means son of the promise.  Abraham and Sarah had been promised an heir.  They were sad because they had no heir until this point.  We know that when Sarah heard she was to have a son, she was ninety, she laughed.  I would have cried.  (laughter)  In any case, for a long time Jewish scholars have thought that these three strangers were God or angels of God.  We Christians like that because there are three, kind of a beautiful symbol of the Trinity.  As a result of this good hospitality, the promise is fulfilled. 
Now in the Gospel, we have a different case of hospitality where Jesus is tired and He is not far from the cross.  He knows what awaits Him, He needs some friendship, and He needs some comfort.  He goes and He spends time with Martha and Mary and a family fight breaks out.  Now that’s not good hospitality in a Semitic sense or even in our culture, is it?  You know how well you behave when you have guests.  That is why they can only stay three days because you can’t go three days without fighting.  (Laughter)
       
Now, there’s good and bad hospitality or perhaps better hospitality.  There is wise and foolish hospitality.  The difference is simple.  In wise hospitality, the focus is on the guest, on the person, not on the event.  Mary focused on Jesus, Martha focused on His visit.  Abraham focused on the visitor and was rewarded for it.  We are all aware of examples of foolish hospitality. 
 
We had a beautiful wedding here just 40 hours ago.  A wedding that was filled with good hospitality.  In fact, if you looked at the couple, I think you could almost see Christ.  By the way, is Warren and Cherise here?  Are you here?  There they are in the back.  Stand up.  They’ve been married 40 hours.  (Applause)  How ya’ doin’?  Doing all right?  They say the first 40 hours are the toughest.  Oh no the first 40 years is the toughest.
 
Some weddings are, we encounter foolish hospitality.  Conversely, we see wonderful examples of great hospitality, especially at funerals.  When all the nonsense is stripped away, when the deceased is here with us, we offer a beautiful hospitality, ministry of hospitality at funerals for many years.  Bev, thank you dear.  When after the funeral lunch is prepared for fifty of five hundred and the Church leaves here and goes to the parish hall and visits with the family.  The focus is on the family, on the deceased and on the love this community has for them.  It is a beautiful thing.  Again, the difference is very simple.  Don’t focus on the event, focus on the person. 
 
There is a story, an Irish story, about this fellow who was dying.  He had nothing to eat in two weeks.  The doctor visited and she said, “It’s a matter of hours.”  He hadn’t been conscious in days.  So, the doctor said, “You better prepare for the wake and the funeral.”  They went about the preparations and finally as they were cooking a beautiful roast beef for the funeral, for the wake, the old man woke up smelling the delicious meal cooking. (In Irish brogue) He says, “Daughter what is that?”  She says were cooking roast beef, Daddy.”  “Oh,” he said, “if I could have one wee piece of that meat, I’d die a happy man.”  She says, “Sorry, Daddy, we’re saving that for the wake.”  (Laughter)  Could happen.  The event not the person.


You know there is a great American philosopher, I consider him the greatest American philosopher and I know Don Lucero shares my opinion.  His name is Lawrence Peter Berra, some of you know him as Yogi.  He said, “Their ain’t nobody more important than people.”  (Laughter)  He said a lot of things, Yogi did.  When the mayor of New York’s wife commented on how cool, he said from his words, “When the mayor of New York’s wife commented on how cool I looked on a hot and humid New York day, I replied to her ‘You don’t look so hot yourself.’”  (Laughter)  He said, “I usually take a two hour nap from 1:00 to 4:00.”  (Laughter)  Talking about baseball, he said, “Ninety percent of the game is half mental.”  (Laughter)    “When I was told that there was a Jewish mayor in Dublin, I replied, ‘Only in America.’”  (Laughter)  Don’t get me started on Yogi.  Don Lucero’s favorite player. 

You know, I think sometimes we are guilty of the heresy of good works.  When we see the works, the good works of charity as an end in themselves, not the recipient of the work or the act of charity for the person, we’re so busy serving each other we neglect each other. 
 
There’s a proverb that sums up what I am trying to say and it’s an old proverb:  “He who offers hospitality entertains God Himself.”(anonymous)  So, how are you doing?  Do you treat others with the dignity they deserve as children of God?  Are you more like Mary or Martha?  Are you anxious and upset about many things?  Hospitality is important because it is a reflection of a greater reality.  It is the absolute respect for the sacredness and the dignity of every human person.  That’s what Jesus tried to teach us as he walked this earth for three years in His ministry.  Notice every encounter He had, He saw the beauty of the human person and treated him or her with dignity and respect due a child of God.  Like Mary, I hope we all choose the better part and that part is the person of Christ.  As you receive the Lord in Holy Communion this morning, take Him with you when you leave.  Take Him home to your family.  Take Him to work tomorrow.  Remember every human person is created in the image of God.  Everyone.  And you as well.  May we treat each other with the love and respect that God wishes us to.