All Are Welcome...

This week we made the difficult decision to kick an individual out of our house.  He has been very connected to our Catholic Worker community for much longer than most of us and has created deep friendships with the community members.  He has found a home away from home within the walls of our house, Olive Branch (a house of hospitality for women and families experiencing homelessness).  For the last few months he has spent a significant amount of his days chatting, sipping coffee, and napping in our living room.  It has been a joy to get to know him and hear stories of his days with the New York Catholic Workers and Dorothy Day herself.  The difficult part of this situation is that there is another side to him, a side that is often inappropriate.  Because of mental illness this gentlemen requires much attention and his presence in the family house was becoming concerning for community members and guests.  After many reminders of appropriate conduct and hours attempting to organize meds and doctors appointments it was decided that it would be in the houses best interest if he only come to Olive Branch for our weekly muffin Sunday and special holiday meals.  So we sat him down, and we told him that he is no longer welcome here on a daily basis.  This entire situation has got me thinking about hospitality and some of the limitations that we have here. Daily we turn people away on the phone or at our front door because our house is full but it has been very difficult to turn a way a person who we have developed a friendship with. 

Recently, this gentleman has been very focused on Christ's return.  While talking with him he will interrupt, no matter what the topic is, and ask questions like "Do you think Christ is ever going to come back?" "When?" "Where?" "Will we recognize him?" and "Do you think that I am Christ incarnate?"  As strange and abrupt as these questions may be, they have been an incredible and difficult reminder that "whatever we do for the least of these, you do for me" (Matthew 25:45).  This is a biblical theme that I focus on a lot and yet I have forgotten again.  Thankfully, due to the strange conversation topics that this gentleman presents, I have been reminded, yet again, that I need to identify Christ in all people.  The Gospel reading this Sunday at church was very fitting for this situation.  We read about the disciples arguing about who is greater.  Jesus sits them down to say "whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all."  Then Jesus takes up a child and shares that "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."  The pastor went on to share that the Gospel reading reminds us that we are all worthy of God's love,  When we welcome those who society recognizes as lonely we are welcoming Jesus' presence. When we are able to recognize Christ in others we will be able to stop seeking status and begin God's hospitality.  The opening hymn also helped to get this point across.  We sang the song All Are Welcome. I needed to hear this song and the third verse (I think) seemed to relate perfectly to our current situation.

Let us build a house where hands will reach beyond the wood and stone to heal and strengthen, serve and teach and live the word they've known.  Here the outcasts and the stranger bear the image of God's face...All are welcome.

So, how do we welcome all?  How can we reach out to help this man and other outcasts?  What does God's hospitality truly look like?  Will we ever be able to identify that this man's face truly bears the image of Christ?