SERVING/LISTENING

SERVING-LISTENING -16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

            The welcoming scenes in Genesis and in the Gospel teach us about the Lord’s presence and how God speaks to people. Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent on a hot day when he saw three men standing nearby. In the eastern custom he goes out to welcome them, considering it a privilege to welcome them and serve them by offering food, water, and a place to rest.

            As often happens in welcoming someone and meeting their needs, they began to give Abraham something. This is one of the laws of welcoming. Those who welcome receive. Abraham had been waiting a number of years for the Lord to answer his prayer of fulfilling His promise to give the child of the promise. God had promised Abraham his descendants would be as “numerous as the sands of the sea shore and the stars in the heavens”, and yet Sarah and himself were in their nineties. They were called to live a life of faith, and what it must have taken for them to believe in the promise all those years!

            Through the three men, God spoke some good news to Abraham telling him that Sarah was to have a baby in her old age. Had Abraham not been eager to serve the needs of the travelers, he may have missed out on this good news. “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.” What a refreshing kind of person Abraham was, and how refreshing when we meet such people with a welcoming, serving spirit, which considers the needs of others. Such people are happy and have a way of receiving as they give.

            Anyone who welcomes others into their life receives. The Lord often speaks to us through those whom we welcome into our lives. Parents hear the Lord through their children, teachers through their students, and priests and ministers through the people they serve. This is especially true if those who are served are also listened to. If we only welcome and serve and don’t listen, we may miss the Lord’s messages to us through others.

            Many welcome and serve well, but fail to listen. Sometimes we want to say good things to others, but they are not listening. They are preoccupied or too busy serving. A busy host or hostess may hear less from the guests than others. Abraham teaches us the importance of the third element after welcoming and serving, which is that of listening. Human settings of needs being met are where people most often meet. The Lord says in many places in the Scriptures that He can be found among the poor and the needy, the hungry and the thirsty, the sick and the imprisoned. When we are acting in the spirit of Abraham and eagerly welcoming, serving and listening, we are more likely to hear the Lord. Our reward for welcoming and serving comes in the form of what we hear from those we have welcomed.

            Listening is demanding. Paul said, “I find my joy in the suffering I endure for you. In my own flesh I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His Body the Church”. As we serve members of the Church, we also receive from them. Paul also tells us how he became a minister of the Gospel with the mission to welcome the Gentiles, that is all the nations, to the good news of Christ. The Risen Lord is met when He is served in people.

            The Lord teaches us through Abraham, Martha and Mary that welcoming, serving, and listening go together. The demands of welcoming and serving need not keep us from listening. The “household tasks” of life can keep us from getting everything together and receiving through listening, if we don’t choose otherwise. Martha welcomed Jesus and met His needs as she was busy “with all the details of hospitality”. Mary her sister “seated herself at the Lord’s feet and listened to His words”. Martha complained to Jesus about Mary. The Lord said Mary had chosen the better part.

            Listen while serving!

Divine Mercy Reflection #552

“…the Holy Spirit does not speak to a soul that is distracted and garrulous. He speaks by His quiet inspirations to a soul that is recollected, to a soul that knows how to keep silence.”