Welcoming & Embracing the Stranger: Lenten Reflections with the Artwork of James Tissot

March 7, 2026 - Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

The essence of hospitality lies in the free self-gift a host makes of himself for the sake of another. It consists of the time, energy, and goods he gives in charity to satisfy the needs and desires of his guest. When we consider the nature of the Holy Trinity, is it any wonder that we have found—in every time and place—a deep desire in the human person to be a good host? It is the nature of God to give, to bestow from the superabundance of His Being freely. Why then should it be a surprise that we, who are made in the Image of God, find our deepest fulfillment precisely in the giving of ourselves? 

But the key to our fulfillment is not merely in the giving, the emptying out of ourselves, for unlike God, our being is not infinite. He endlessly empties a cup which can never be drained, needing not worry that His gifts will ever be exhausted. But we have a need to replenish what we pour out, and it is in this replenishment that we find fulfilment. We empty ourselves so that we may be filled up with Christ. We decrease so that He may increase. 

Thus, to be a good host means not merely knowing how to give, but how to receive, and specifically how to receive the love of Christ. For it is the love of Christ that teaches us how to love others. His love, which we have received without earning, directs us to freely give that which has not been earned. This is the understanding of the good host, that the one who has received without cost should give without cost. 

This is a lesson we might take from today’s Gospel. We see at the end of the story of the prodigal son that the elder son did not know how to receive well. Though, as he was reminded, everything which his father owned was his, and though every good thing which he had come to him unearned (except maybe by the merit of being his father’s son), he begrudged the welcoming of and giving to one who neither earned nor deserved. And the grudge that the son held in his heart was so great that even if he had agreed to give to his estranged brother, the anger in his heart would have spoiled the gift. It is only those who are grateful for what they have and have received well who know how to give well. May this always be the case for us.  

O God, who grant us by glorious healing remedies while still on earth to be partakers of the things of heaven, guide us, we pray, through this present life and bring us to that light in which you dwell. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. (Roman Missal)

Patrick Rasimowicz, Seminarian, Diocese of Metuchen  

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