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One of my greatest attributes is to not only be acutely aware of my many deficiencies; but also very willing to own up to them.  The one deficiency that I regret the most - and try the hardest to overcome is my lack of hospitality and thoughtfulness.  Though, probably a more fair assessment would be my lack of follow through! I often think of the nice or caring things I could do to help others - however, for a myriad of reasons (none of them good); my follow-through statistics are very low.   At first this behavior came from self-preservation and lack of instruction; but as an adult with fully formed conscience it is not longer acceptable behavior.   AWARENESS IS NOT HALF THE BATTLE While I would love to say, that once I realized the necessity of a life in Christ to include reaching out to others my behavior changed - I can not.  I still every day have to resist my self-absorbed ways.  In all too painful ways the Lord has allowed me to feel the DEEP regr...

  I mentioned in my post a couple of weeks back about having hosted a potluck get-together most Fridays this summer.  We just had our last one of the season a few days ago. Issuing this invitation was a huge step for me.  Although I've often hosted holiday meals and birthday celebrations, opening my home on a weekly basis seemed next to impossible.  Normally when hosting, I'd plan weeks in advance what to cook and would go out of my mind trying to figure out how to maintain company-clean amid daily life.  What caused me to take the plunge and have people over almost every Friday?  I realized that it was the sin of pride, a lack of humility, and fear of what I think someone might think of me that was holding me back (and my family), from enjoying an even more rich and full life, even in this small way.   Sinful pride left me with little time and energy to put on the mask of perfection when there wasn't a compelling reason to...

While posting the link  Misyononline  link  for today's  Sunday Reflections  on Facebook I saw there a link to a new video by Jean Vanier, founder of  L'Arche  and co-founder with Marie-Hélène Mathieu of  Faith and Light . He is speaking to a young fellow-Canadian, Maya Pot, a fifth-grader, about hospitality, which I had also focused on in Sunday Reflections, where a Filipino seminarian told me about the experience of hospitality that he had when he went to visit some workers from Kerala, India, living in an overcrowded labour camp in Dubai. Marie-Hél è ne Mathieu I've since discovered that Jean speaks to Maya in a number of short videos on hospitality, each directed to a different group. The one above is for parents. He speaks to teachers (below), to senior elementary students  here , to junior elementary students  here  and to secondary students  here . Full post here .

A silver cup  for  netilat yadayim , the Jewish ritual washing of hands Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)  Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  Gospel  Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23   (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition) Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of th...