Paul’s Letter to the Colossians today reminds me of another saying from Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews. Now, Paul was great in that he went from town to town, village to village, sharing the good news. And he’s got so much wisdom in those letters in the New Testament. But in Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews, he says, “Don’t ever neglect hospitality to strangers, for you unknowingly might be entertaining angels.” Did you ever hear that from Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews? I like that reminder from St.Paul to the Hebrews, because we hear about hospitality, both in the first reading and in the Gospel.

In the first reading, Abraham, after his prayer, comes upon a few strangers outside his tent, and he does all he can do to welcome and be hospitable to those strangers. He even goes inside and gets Sarah, and he even invites Sarah to make some food so that the strangers might be fed with good hospitality. Well, little did he know that those strangers would bless him, Abraham, and Sarah and say to them, before leaving, “You’re going to have a son. Next year, when we return the same way, you’re going to have a son.” And sure enough, it happened. That even in Sarah’s advanced age, she was able to give birth to a son and name him Isaac. See what happens when you’re hospitable?

Now, the Gospel, we also hear about hospitality. Martha was very much anxious and preoccupied about hospitality. She gave herself generously to hospitality, and she was really hospitable to Jesus, very much so, when he came into town. And she also very much was complaining about it as well, wasn’t she? She complained to Jesus, how could this be that I’m doing all the work? My sister Mary isn’t doing anything.

Now, Jesus would say very candidly that hospitality is extraordinarily important. But he also says in the Gospel today, that Mary’s prayerfulness was the better part. That yes, hospitality’s important. We all try to practice hospitality to our neighbors, to our strangers, to immigrants, to those who are in need. We all practice hospitality, but prayerfulness, Jesus says, is the better portion. So it says we gather, perhaps we reflect in our own hearts.

How are we people of hospitality from the core of our being? How are we hospitable? And then, we also reflect how are we also prayerful? How do we ask for the grace and the strength that we need to be very prayerful people, recharging our batteries, re-nourishing our souls around the Eucharistic table, so that we can be those hospitable bearers of Christ Jesus to the world. Jesus holds them both together, powerful hospitality and also making sure we’re prayerful people. Can we practice that this week?