Hospitality: A reflection
Oak of Mamre (Rublev icon)
Hospitality
This is a Russian Icon that I have loved for many years. it has always been a a centre piece in our home near the entrance. It speaks to me of hospitaity. Officially it is called the Oak of Mamre . A Rublev icon it is full of symbolism using the Holy Trinity which at his time was the embodiment of unity, peace, harmony, mutual love and humility.
The icon is based on a story from the Book of Genesis called Abraham and Sarah’s Hospitality or The Hospitality of Abraham (§18). It says that the biblical Patriarch Abraham ‘was sitting at the door of his tent in the heat of the day’ by the Oak of Mamre and saw three men standing in front of him, who in the next chapter were revealed as angels. ‘When he saw them, Abraham ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth.’ Abraham ordered a servant-boy to prepare a choice calf, and set curds, milk and the calf before them, waiting on them, under a tree, as they ate (Genesis 18:1–8). One of the angels told Abraham that Sarah would soon give birth to a son.
Rumi’s mystical poetry often helps me regain perspective on life. In this poem, I love his notion that being human is like being a “guest house.” Unexpected visitors occasionally show up and stay for a while, including some you’d really like to throw out!
Welcoming them and learning what they may have to teach you, or where they may lead you, isn’t always easy. But in my experience, it always pays off — if for no other reason than it hastens the day of their departure!
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
I believe practicing hospitality towards the other is key to restoring the civil community
on which democracy depends. It means finally coming to the realisation there is no other. we are all one , depending on each othere on this small ship of earth . Hospitlity doesnt mean agreeing with everything
It means listening openly and with respect learning how to build bridges rather than walls.
Each of us is a “guest house” Our first job is to be good hosts to ourselves , good hosts to each other and out wider and wider. “Be grateful for whoever comes our way/ for each comes to us / as a guide from beyond.” Rumi
Drawing Sister Mary Brady OP
We have to question our Hospitality as a country when we have reminders of cartoon as those above. And today with the Rivers of Humanity we see each night on our television we have to wonder how can we be present to this and what can we do to heal our broken world.? These are the questions we have to humbly grapple with as a caring person on this planet.
Prayer for this Broken World.
Into this world
this demented inn
in which there is no room for him,
Christ has come ininvited.
His place is with those others
for whom there is no room –
those who do not belong
those who are rejected
who are denied the status of persons
who are tortured, bombed, exterminated.
Thomas Merton. 1965 A modern mystic.
And in this world today I like his final prayer written in New York in about 1985
Another drawing to remind us to work always to build bridges not walls.
