Be hospitable!

"And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart."

Luke 2:19

 

I am still reflecting on the many beautiful lessons I have learned throughout this amazing Season! During our Christmas homily, we learned that we must make room for Jesus in the "inn" of our own hearts.  Then, on the Feast of the Holy Family, we learned that, in addition to making room, we must nourish the Jesus within.  It's not enough just to make room, we must nourish and be hospitable to Jesus, just as we are hospitable to guests in our homes.  I thought about this quite a bit and came up with ways we can be hospitable to Jesus, our most Precious Guest.  First, we need to spend time with Jesus.  We don't invite people over to our homes and then ignore them by watching TV or playing on the computer do we?  Let's try to spend quality time by giving full attention to Jesus in prayer each day.  Second, we need to learn about our Guest so we can converse more easily.  We can do this by reading Jesus' own words in the Gospels and other spiritual writings.  Let's strive to get to know Jesus better by studying what he said.  And finally, (I love lessons in threes, don't you?)  when Jesus tells us to do something, let's do it!  When we invite someone in and they have good, practical suggestions for us, we pay attention to them.  Jesus gives us all we need to know to live doing God's will.  Let's try to do it!  So, to sum it all up:  we invite Jesus in, we make room for Jesus in our lives, and we are hospitable hosts, loving and learning from our Guest.  Sounds easy, right?  Love, heidi