If three mysterious strangers appeared at your door, would you, as Abraham did, beg them to stay—let alone even let them in? Would you frantically take care of them and get a huge meal ready? Maybe you would if you had a feeling they were something more than they seemed.

Presence. Not the kind that get wrapped up in paper and ribbon but the sort that mean steady, available, accessible attentiveness. We talk about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Jesus is here, in our midst. You can reach out and touch him. In the Real Presence, we understand that God is here for us.

I’m one of those people who wants everything perfect. For a time, I came pretty darn close: good health, great job, nice apartment with no book unshelved, no table undusted, no dish unwashed. Then I got married and had a child. 

Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

If you’re looking for lessons about the relative value of housework or familial relationships, though, look somewhere else, because these stories actually describe different kinds of reactions to the sudden arrival of important guests.

As essentially Christian and counter-intuitive as “love your enemies may be,” Jesus’ defending Mary’s “laziness” over her hard-working sister Martha seems even more outrageous and unfair!

It’s not in the book or in the writer that readers discern the truth of what they read; they see it in themselves, if the light of truth has penetrated their minds. —Saint Augustine of Hippo