The Lord Jesus makes himself a guest, but in reality it is we who need his visit more than he needs our welcome. To interpret the text of the Gospel, the usual wisdom of the Liturgy puts us in the right direction, giving us the opportunity to read one of the most beautiful texts of the Hebrew Scriptures: Abraham’s welcome of the visit of the mysterious wayfarers. The strongest and most significant attitude we find in Abraham is his readiness! Well before he rushes into serving – and asking his wife Sarah and his servant to serve – Abraham himself is awaiting vigilant “at the entrance to the tent” even “in the hottest hour of the day” (Gen 18: 1) . The most important thing is not our welcome and our way of welcoming, but the fact that God visits us and the way in which he does it. With his usual literary refinement, the evangelist Luke follows the welcome in the “village” (Lk 10, 38) of Bethany, to the parable of the compassionate Samaritan. As if to say that only the experience of radical compassion can make us hospitable to others. Not only that, Mary’s presence and her sitting “at the Lord’s feet” to listen to her “word of hers” (10:39), reminds us that, for t we can welcome Jesus into our life trying to respond to his needs and necessities, it is always He who gives us the most important things and gives them to us in fullness. In this way the diptych of the Good Samaritan which is proposed again in Martha is completed by that of Mary and thus gives us a sort of interior map of the disciple’s life.

Commentary by b. Michael David, osb Community of the Koinonia de la Visitation

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey