Once I read that Sr. Joan Chittister, prolific author, speaker and Benedictine scholar, said this about our value of hospitality: “We say to our guests, ‘Come on in and mess up our perfectly ordered lives.’” 

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St. Benedict wrote that guests are to be welcomed as Christ and the monastery should never be without them.  Truthfully, we do lead rather ordered lives.  There are scheduled times of prayer, joint meals, meetings and workshops, periods of private prayer and meditation, et cetera, et cetera.  Everywhere you look around our large complex, you’ll see signs advising us of this and that.  As you can imagine, with so many people, going so many places, doing so many things, it’s necessary to deal with logistics.

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So, into that ordered life, comes our guest.  Hospitality demands that we stop what we are doing to welcome Christ.  S/he could be the UPS driver delivering a package, the call placed to the switchboard asking for prayers, someone arriving for an appointment or a stranger seeking help.

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Regardless, if we are true to our charism, we look forward to greeting the person in front of us. 

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Come and see us so we can demonstrate.  We’d love for you to mess up our day!