From the beginning to the end! Sunday meditation-3

I watched a small green Barbet eat away a Rose apple in our garden. It was its bird song that drew me out into the garden.

I stayed watching the Barbet eat the whole Rose apple and fly away with a mouthful in its mouth!

These are just a few pictures of of this interesting scene!

This was around 11 am, while I was reflecting on the meaning some words which appeared in a article in the People's Reporter, of 25 October, 2018 based on a talk given by  Fr Dr. K.M.George on the occasion of 25th M.A.Thomas Memorial Lecture. Fr George is an outstanding theologian in the lineage of Dr M.M.Thomas, and Fr Dr. Paul Varghese, who later became a bishop of the Orthodox church. All these three theologians represented the eastern thoughts in theology and contribute d significantly to the leadership of the Word Council of Churches. They were linguists and spoke and wrote from a profound knowledge of Greek, Hebrew and European languages.

In this article, Fr George on a sub theme of his talk, spoke about, 'Guest, Host and Hostility'.  The word hospitality comes from Latin, hospes, meaning guest or host.The words like, hospital, hostel, hospice, and hostility come form this root word. So the words guest and host are interchangeable because of its same meaning in Latin. Fr George suggested that, 'this is an ideal situation, where the host does not dominate the guest and the guest is not reduced to the passivity of receiving the bounty of the host. They both contribute, share and participate on a common ground in the act of hospitality'. 

Similarly, Fr George said that the greek word for hospitality is Philoxenia literally meaning, 'love of the stranger, the alien, or the foreigner'. The guest is someone, 'who just drops in irrespective of the convenience of the householder'. Fr George referred to the rule of the St Benedict of the sixth century,  who instructed  the 'monks to consider every guest as Christ himself'. 

So it was an experience of immense meaning to me to find the Barbet feeling at home and refreshed from the Rose apple in our garden. To watch a barbet is a delight in itself because of its adorable body and the well groomed feathers. To have it receive the fruit from the garden is even more special, because it chose to  dissolve the barrier between the guest and host. The barbet was comfortable to share what we have, uninvited!

What belongs to us belongs to the Barbet as well. 

This is how God created us. He created Eve for Adam and both for the rest of the plant and animal world which He had already created. 

All of us are either hosts or guest in our roles at different times. Going by hospes, which makes the guest and host similar or interchangeable in function, there is a calling for us to consider.

Jesus of Nazareth demonstrated it at the last supper. Jesus was in one sense the guest on the occasion as it was the last supper that he would have with His disciples. The guest became the host, when Jesus took a basin of water and a towel to wash the feet of the disciples. He breaks the bread and blesses the vine. 

To me it was a transforming hospitality. Even Judas was given an opportunity to change his plan of betraying Jesus. 

We live with this calling to make our presence and service transforming in effect. God is the source of this transformation when we make others including those who 'betray' us as our objects of hospitality. 

This takes us on an inner journey from hostility to hospitality towards others! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)