Dear Parishioners,

      In the nearly three weeks since moving here we priests have experienced nothing but Christian hospitality from all of you. Thank you for your kindness. It is greatly appreciated, and it is perhaps something for us to reflect upon, especially this weekend.

      I am told that this weekend’s Festival of the Little Hills is quite the event. So many of you have mentioned that not only is it a great event, but that it brings great crowds to our area. In the Church we talk a lot about evangelization and bringing the Good News of the Gospel to others. With all the crowds and visitors, perhaps the Festival, and other events like it, becomes for us a great opportunity for evangelization. 

         That is why I think of the hospitality you have shown us priests since our arrival in St. Charles. Hospitality is foundational to Catholic spirituality, especially to Benedictine Catholic spirituality.

        The great St. Benedict, founder of Western monasticism, emphasized the importance of hospitality in his famous rule for monks. He exhorted all his monks to “let all guests who arrive be received as Christ.” Of course, the Lord taught us that whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters we do to Him, and for St. Benedict we fulfil that teaching in part by welcoming guests as Christ.

      This requires us first to be people of deep prayer, so that we may learn to see Christ present in others and then welcome them in a Christ like manner. Christian hospitality, seeking the Face of Christ in the other, gives due attention to the other and shows forth the love of Christ. So, hospitality is fundamental to our spirituality, but also becomes for us a foundation of evangelization.

           As we celebrate this weekend, hopefully we will do so in a prayerful spirit of Christian hospitality. We never know how the Lord will use something as simple as our hospitality to bring more people to Him.

Have a blessed week!

Fr. Jim Theby