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

March 26, 2026 - Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

As we contemplate Jesus' profound declaration in today's Gospel, "whoever keeps my word will never see death," we are invited to reflect on our own response to the stranger who stands before us. The story of Abraham in our first reading reminds us that our faith journey began with a stranger – Abram, called by God to leave everything behind and wander as a foreigner in the land of promise. What a bizarre and big thing to be asked of by a stranger! How much reluctance to leave the familiar and distrust of the unknown must have Abraham felt? Yet, Abraham's openness to the stranger became the foundation of God's covenant, marked by the sign of circumcision that set him apart as both different and belonging to something greater.

This physical sign reminds us that welcoming the stranger often requires us to bear marks that make us distinct in the world, to embrace an identity that we are reluctant to be and an identity that may make us feel like outsiders even as we belong to something eternal. 
 
In Jesus, we encounter the ultimate stranger, one who claims to be "I AM," standing before the religious authorities as both fulfillment of Abraham's promise and a challenge to their understanding. Their instinct was to pick up stones, to reject what was uncomfortable and different. Yet Jesus' words call us to soften our hearts, to move beyond the hardness of the wilderness we hear about in Psalm 95, where the people tested God at Massah and Meribah. This hardness of heart manifested as doubt and resistance to God's presence in the unfamiliar. When we welcome the stranger, we participate in the eternal life Jesus promises, for in doing so, we welcome Christ Himself, the fulfillment of all covenant promises, who continues to come to us in unexpected faces and unfamiliar circumstances. The stranger who comes into our lives may be carrying the very presence of God, waiting only for our open heart and outstretched hand. 
 
This Lenten journey calls us to examine the places where we have built walls instead of bridges, where we have chosen fear instead of faith. Abraham's journey from Abram to Abraham, from stranger to father of nations, reminds us that hospitality transforms both the giver and the receiver. We must transform the stones that the religious authorities picked up to throw at Jesus into the stones of foundation, for building up rather than tearing down.

In each encounter with the stranger, we have the opportunity to participate in God's redemptive work, to become signs of the covenant in a world that too often rejects the unfamiliar. May our hearts be soft, our hands open, and our eyes fixed on Christ, who continues to reveal himself in the stranger's face. 

Be near, O Lord, to those who plead before you, and look kindly on those who place their hope in your mercy, that, cleansed from the stain of their sins, they may persevere in holy living and be made full heirs of your promise. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. (Roman Missal)

Bartosz Luczynski, Graduate Student, ICSST

Do you know someone who may be interested in receiving our daily reflection emails? Invite them to sign up by visiting our subscription page.