The readings this weekend call us to hospitality.  In the first reading, Elisha is visiting a woman and her husband, and they create a little room for him on the roof (an ADU?) that sounds cozy:  it has a bed, table, chair, and lamp.  He later rewards them with a promise of a child.  In the gospel, Jesus says to his disciples very simply and clearly that whoever receives them will receive Jesus himself, whoever receives a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward . . . and whoever even gives a cup of water to a least one “will surely not lose their reward.”

I remember when I was in my first studies in New York, a newly-vowed Jesuit, I saw our superior preparing a guest room.  As he was folding the towels and making the bed, he said quietly, “who receives a guest, receives Christ.”  That has stayed with me.  I also recall that at my parents’ home, it seemed like there was always room for one more around the table, if someone happened to be visiting us at dinnertime.  My parents were eager to invite people to join us.  I have also been the beneficiary of others’ hospitality so many times, and in ways that truly humble me.  People have so often made me feel like a king, with the delicious and bountiful food they have served me when they invite me over to their homes.

The spirit of hospitality is truly a beautiful thing.  The migrants who stayed with us in Salon Tepeyac were the recipients of your hospitality.  We opened our church and we opened our hearts, because we believed it was the right thing to do.  Just as God has blessed us abundantly, so also we felt compelled to share our blessings.  We did not do so because we had a surplus, but because we felt we were receiving Christ.  And what was our reward?  I believe it was a deepened sense of who we are.  God brought us closer to ourselves.  God reminded us that we, too, are sojourners in this world, that as sons and daughters of migrants, we share something in common with these folks.  The great mystery of giving is this:  when we give, we receive.  As Jesus says in the same gospel, “Whoever loses his/her life for my sake will find it.”  May we always give our lives away in hospitality towards others.