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It’s a new year, a new beginning, and it’s time to celebrate!
I was going to blog about something completely different this week, but a local Italian Catholic I spoke to recently got me thinking about celebrations and hospitality. He was telling me how he had extended an open-ended invitation to Bishop Salvatore Matano to come to his home for a meal of homemade pasta and vino.
Sounds delicious to me.
It got me thinking about how we will all invite Bishop Matano into our lives as he is installed at the end of this week. Isn’t that one of the best ways to get to know someone — by breaking bread with them? Let’s start at Mass. I know Bishop Matano will be traveling extensively, so he can be at Masses throughout the diocese over the coming months. I, for one, have experienced some amazing parish hospitality throughout this diocese, and I hope he experiences the best of it as he travels the area.
I also love the tradition of making extra food and saving some extra seats for anyone else who shows up. God always seems to send along a stranger for us to welcome, and it’s easier to invite someone in if you are prepared. One time in college I cooked a pan of lasagna without really knowing what I was going to do with the leftovers. God provided a dorm floor full of hungry foreign-exchange students on the spur of the moment who gladly accepted the invitation. They may have been fed, but I was the one who was fulfilled after that meal.
So let’s break bread and celebrate!
