Follow us online for news, events, prayer and spiritual resources, plus much more:
My youngest son Logan used to give me and his dad “running hugs” whenever we arrived home. He’d run down the hallway and jump into our open arms sometimes even knocking us off our feet. We knew without a doubt he was excited to see us. No matter how our day had been going until that moment, it felt wonderful to be greeted so enthusiastically.
Unfortunately, too often, we arrive in places feeling invisible or awkward. I’ve learned that there is an immediacy about hospitality. It must not be delayed. I’ve had the privilege of visiting several Benedictine monasteries through the years. One of their charisms is radical hospitality. St. Benedict said, “all guests are to be welcomed as Christ” and so the monasteries not only offer food and shelter, but prayer and ministry too. Whenever I have arrived at the monastery for a retreat, one of the sisters greeted me at the door and accompanied me to my room. Usually there would be a bowl of fruit or homemade treats. I felt like a VIP.
I have friends who instilled in their children the simple act of greeting everyone in the room whenever one of them enters the room of adults. No one was to be “invisible”. Too often we greet people we know and ignore others as if the others are unimportant. I was recently in a meeting on campus where people introduced themselves spontaneously at its conclusion.
As people of faith and as Ambrosians, we can do better than that. People are hungering to be noticed, welcomed and to belong. We are called to make space for ALL God’s people. To treat everyone as a VIP. To be happy to see one another – maybe not with a running- knock- you- off- your- feet hug – but at least with a smile and a handshake.
This fall semester in campus ministry we’ve decided to have people wear name tags occasionally when worshiping in Christ the King Chapel, so that we can call people by name. We want people who are not Catholic to feel comfortable worshiping with us, so we put booklets about Mass in the pews. We are also working to make a family that was forced to flee their homeland as refugees, feel welcome here on campus through a program called Every Campus a Refuge.
There’s so much more we can do if we are attentive to the “other.”
Will you do your part to make St Ambrose University a place of radical hospitality where people are noticed, welcomed and belong?
Have a question about a program or event going on in Campus Ministry? Got an idea for something you'd like to see happen? EMAIL US at ministry@sau.edu.
