When we think of hospitality, most of us think of being a good host/hostess at some festivity we’ve organized, providing appropriate food and drink, pleasant accommodations for those we have invited to join us. Gate-crashers are not welcome. We are not prepared for them, and they don’t meet our criteria for inclusion.

St. Benedict, however, provides a very different model of hospitality. He took the gospel for this Sunday to heart when he developed his rule of life for monastics which requires welcoming the stranger as if it were Christ himself knocking at the door. Benedict knew the truth of Mt. 25:40: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these…, you did it to me.” He recognized the importance of providing rest and refreshment, even a cup of cold water to those who came to the monasteries he founded. For monastics, there is no worthiness test for the stranger at the door, no means test for admission. Showing up is sufficient for welcome. They have come to trust the scriptural admonition we find in the epistle to the Hebrews (13:2): “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Benedict’s example inspires me to broaden my view of hospitality, to realize the welcoming spirit needs to reach beyond my front door to those I meet at the grocery store or the Dollar Store, at the bank or at the Post Office, at Penny’s Worth or at Trinity Church. When I ask myself if I see Christ in all those I meet when I am out and about, if I welcome them into my space with the red carpet treatment that I would roll out for the Lord, I know I fall far short of the welcome that Christ expects of me for his little ones. I wonder how many angels I may have ignored or failed to welcome, how many went away thirsty. How about you?