From Sunday's Sermon: The Little Way of Hospitality

The Little Way: The Spiritual Practice of Hospitality

“Through spiritual disciplines, we seek a deeper intimacy with God, a greater awareness of God. We seek an encounter with the sacred and divine. While these spiritual disciplines move us toward God, they routinely fail to move us toward each other. This is the genius of the Little Way, the lost spiritual discipline, a habit-forming practice that moves us toward each other so that our actions for each other expand and widen. The Little Way is a spiritual discipline of hospitality and welcome. This is exactly the practice we need if we want to overcome the strangeness of strangers, a habit-forming discipline that enables us to encounter the God who comes to us in disguise. The Little Way trains us to entertain angels unawares, God coming to us in coworkers, neighbors, refugees, the homeless, and the people in the line with us at the grocery store.” ~ Richard Beck, Stranger God: Meeting Jesus in Disguise

St. Thérèse describe the practice of the Little Way, of welcoming the Sisters who were shunned & marginalized:

I have noticed (and this is very natural) that the most saintly Sisters are the most loved. We seek their company; we render them services without their asking; finally, these souls so capable of bearing the lack of respect and consideration of others see themselves surrounded with everyone's affection...

On the other hand, imperfect souls are not sought out. No doubt we remain within the limits of religious politeness in their regard, but we generally avoid them, fearing lest we say something which isn't too amiable. When I speak of imperfect souls, I don't want to speak of spiritual imperfections since most holy souls will be perfect in heaven; but I want to speak of a lack of judgment, good manners, touchiness in certain characters; all these things which don't make life agreeable. I know very well that these moral infirmities are chronic, that there is no hope of a cure, but I also know that my Mother would not cease to take care of me, to try to console me, if I remained sick all my life. This is the conclusion I draw from this: I must seek out in recreation, on free days, the company of Sisters who are the least agreeable to me in order to carry out with regard to these wounded souls the office of the Good Samaritan. A word, an amiable smile, often suffice to make a sad soul bloom...I want to be friendly with everybody (and especially with the least amiable Sisters) to give joy to Jesus.

What does this spiritual practice look like?

1. Seeing (noticing)

Dorothy Day — “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.”
2. Stopping

Mother Theresa – “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
3. Approaching

Jean Vanier – “While we are alone, we could believe we loved everyone.”
 

“I’d like for you to start thinking of hospitality less as an event you put on (like a dinner or a block party) or service you perform (like volunteering at a food bank) and more as an intentional, daily, habit-forming practice. I’d like for you to think of hospitality as a spiritual discipline that is teaching you how to love. A practice you can do anytime, anywhere, with the person standing right in front of you. "Little Way" of Thérèse of Lisieux as an intentional spiritual practice aimed at seeing, stopping for, and approaching people we would otherwise ignore or avoid. I heartily agree that the "Little Way" practices seem banal in their obviousness and simplicity (in the book I tell the story of how Dorothy Day herself had that initial, smug response to Thérèse), but these practices are 1) not very easy, and 2) not widely practiced.” ~ Richard Beck

Richard Beck, Stranger God: Meeting Jesus in Disguise (Fortress Press, 2017)

“Come close. Take my hand. Lean in and let me whisper to you. You are loved.” (Jean Vanier)