Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Xenia3.0 Recreating Hospitality in a Diverse World

In our current environment, where hostility appears to be gaining ground over hospitality, even within some church and theological settings, the practice of hospitality constitutes a veritable act of resistance. Jesus-style resistance. A hospitality that broke the barriers of his time: pure/impure…In a world that sometimes appears to be broken and falling apart, the Christian is called to build bridges over the limits of the legal-illegal, of the pure-impure, and of inclusion-exclusion, because hospitality has a great foundation in celebration and Jesus invites to his table those whom society rejects or demonizes ". A return to the origins of our hospitality is necessary, a hospitality as old as humanity itself, as witnessed by the practice of xenía. Hospitality runs through our biblical tradition and much of the history of the Church. Because they are countercultural, Communities of Hospitality constitute authentic spaces of resistance and foresee the Kingdom when they invite everyone to sit together at the same table, to share what unites us as well as our differences. In short, Communities of Hospitality are an invitation to be witnesses of hope.

Nowadays, the practice of hospitality poses serious questions regarding the building of identity, a formational element in the vital development of individuals and groups of people (Ares, 2017a). These issues are manifested in everyday life, when we coexist. Dynamics in which personal and collective identity processes are woven, some more static and others more dynamic.

Our life is a continuous coming and going, in which we travel and crisscross many roads. Diversity is one of the great riches that hospitality brings to mind. A great variety of cultures, accents, religions, foods, interpretations of reality, etc. A diversity that, in turn, poses a challenge to coexistence, to the creation of identity and to the construction of a pluralistic and open citizenship. When asked “Can we live together?”, we often move between the two extremes of those who see diversity as a threat - the only solution for coexistence being the reinforcement of national identity and borders (hostility) - and those who - in diversity - discover an opportunity for our pluralistic societies, in which the emphasis is on welcoming and integrating, laying the foundations for true social cohesion (hospitality).

"This hospitality is presented as a human and spiritually vital value and connected to the vulnerability of the human being who always requires being welcomed and welcoming the other, who always needs to create inhabitable spaces and leave inhospitable contexts". The current migratory reality presents an invitation to renew and deepen a theology of migrations. The practice of hospitality within the Social Doctrine of the Church unmasks a rhetoric of hostility, in many cases classist, with nativist language.

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages. All of us alike hear them proclaim the wonders of God in our own language! (Acts 2) With the practice of hospitality, diversity can generate life (Acts 2, 1-13) or it can generate division and hostility (G. 11, 1-9). How to deal with this situation? We cannot continue with old recipes in new times. This is what happened in Babel, generating division and selfishness. On the other hand, diversity can be lived according to the spirit of Pentecost. A diversity that opens its doors and generates plenty and hope. He found them gathered and the miracle was performed. It is the Holy Spirit who enables the miracle of hospitality, of understanding to occur. People who come from different environments, with different cultures, languages, ... All of them continue to preserve their distinctive characteristics, even as they strive to understand each other.

When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem. (Lk 24: 30-33) Like the Emmaus disciples, many people around the world leave home for many different reasons. The disciples from Emmaus flee – inconsolable and in the midst of a crisis of life and faith -after seeing Jesus murdered. They set out on the road and, there, Jesus encounters them and begins to dialogue with them, attempting to get them to open up, to reinterpret their lives from the perspective of the central event of Easter. But far from beginning to have a new understanding of the resurrection in their lives, they reproach Jesus: But haven’t you heard what has happened? Jesus looks them in the eye, but still they don't recognize him. The journey, for the disciples from Emmaus, as well as for people who migrate - voluntarily or involuntarily - is a true ordeal, due to the complexity and bureaucracy of the legal processes.

Give them some food yourselves. But they said to him, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.” Then he said, “Bring them here to me.” They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the fragments left over*—twelve wicker baskets full. (Mt 14: 16 -20) The practice of hospitality is a constant invitation to put ourselves in the place of others, to sympathize and to be ‘all in’ serving others. It is an invitation: "Give them something to eat." The disciples are invited to create a CoHo, or rather, to generate communities that replicate this practice of life and salvation.

Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim? The one who treated him with mercy. Go and do likewise. (Lk 10: 36-37) In this passage Jesus shows us how to practice hospitality through the example of a pagan, a foreigner, a Samaritan who - for the Jewish people - did not belong to the People of the Promise. We will look at some words and attitudes

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her. (Lk 10: 41-42) In the practice of hospitality, it is important to keep in mind service to people, as well as accompaniment and listening. Both attitudes are vital in any welcome and coexistence. What happens many times, with our frenetic rhythms, is that we look for what is effective, short-term and measurable.

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (Jn 4: 7) The encounter that Jesus has with the Samaritan woman at the well in Sychar is a commentary on a basic element: practicing hospitality transforms our lives. Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for a sign of hospitality and welcome: a simple cup of water. The woman cannot believe her ears and, due to cultural and religious prejudices, she resists his request. In fact, she is surprised that Jesus didn’t seem to take note of those differences.

And she gave birth to her first-born[a] son and wrapped him in swaddling cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Lk 2:7) In this passage of the birth of Jesus, we see a God that is made flesh in a very concrete reality: Bethlehem, a small village far from the capital of the Roman Empire and populated by a subjugated people. God is not reliant on any kind of human privilege nor does he spare himself difficulties.

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oak of Mamre, as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot. Looking up, he saw three men standing near him. Abraham and Sarah welcome three strangers and, without realizing it, open up their home to angels. The fruitful results of that generous welcome are God’s blessing on them and the working of a miracle: He gives them a son. This passage emphasizes the importance of welcoming strangers - those on the road - for God, himself, is welcomed through them

The practice of hospitality that we find in classical times, the practice of gathering in and caring for the stranger, the traveler, is also found in our biblical tradition. The Semite world, which appreciated and practiced the virtue of hospitality, is fully imprinted in the Old Testament. In fact, hospitality traverses the entire Bible like a cross axle, as it does the Holy Fathers and the history of the Church up to today. “The Bible presents migratory reality as a common element in the history of salvation”. In biblical texts, the People of God are presented as a pilgrim people, a movement where hospitality is a common practice.

According to the Royal Spanish Academy, hospitality is the “the warm welcome and reception given to strangers and visitors,” just like the “virtue that is exercised with pilgrims, the needy and the defenseless, gathering them in and giving them the proper help according to their needs.” The word hospitality is translated from the Latin hospitalitas and the Greek filoxenía. Hospitality is almost as old as humanity itself. One of the first words regarding hospitality that appears on papyrus is the classic Greek word “xenía”¹. It signified an agreement of hospitality that kings would make. The contracting parties would write their names on tablets which would later be broken in two, with each individual keeping one half of the tablet. The carrier of this tablet could reclaim hospitality at any moment. This practice soon reached the cities. Xenia, in a private setting, signified the gifts that were offered by the guests at the end of a ritual meal, thereby renewing friendship and hospitality.