The COVID-19 pandemic, the tragic killing of George Floyd and the strong reactions to that injustice have given me reasons to reflect upon my mortality the past few months. In doing so, I have been struck that a common thread of the typical death by coronavirus and George Floyd’s death is that the breath of earthly life was extinguished. It calls to mind how Jesus, himself, died on the cross, most likely by asphyxiation. In St. Mark’s account of the Passion he writes that Jesus “breathed his last” at the moment of his death. As I have pondered our times, the song “Breathe on Me O Breath of Life” has often come to mind and brought me comfort in moments that could otherwise devolve into fear.
Such comfort is only possible because, three days after Jesus’ death, a supernatural breath of life came into Jesus’ glorified body as he rose from the dead. And as we hear in this Sunday’s second reading, we have great reason for hope that we will experience the same. For in the reading, St. Paul encourages us with truths such as, “We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” These words are familiar to me, for they are the scriptural basis for the words that I and every priest pray as we sprinkle the casket at the start of a Mass of Christian burial.
In these times of uncertainty and fear, we as Christians can be people of great hope: that if we live out our baptism — if we follow what Jesus taught us through word and example about how to live, by loving God and neighbor, by asking forgiveness when we fail — we will have the reward of eternal life.
One of the ways that we can show God’s love to others is by being hospitable. The virtue of hospitality was important even before Jesus in the ancient world, and with Jesus it takes on new meaning. As St. Teresa of Kolkata (Mother Teresa) reminds us, we can see Jesus in the face of each person, including and especially those who are suffering. St. Benedict would adopt hospitality as a key charism of the monastic life.
The importance of hospitality is stressed too, in Sunday’s first reading and Gospel passage. When combined together, the readings teach us that we will receive the reward of a prophet when we act with hospitality, and that a prophet’s reward is life.
Yet as we hear about hospitality, we do so as people who have been sheltering in place for months; we do so as people who are not supposed to get within 6 feet of another person. The strange realities can lead us to ask, how can we be hospitable in these times of social distancing? Our Archdiocesan Synod prayer journal, which can be found at archspm.org/synod, features beautiful daily meditations on the Scriptures, and gives us the following suggestion for social distance hospitality, “even simple acts such as sending a note of gratitude, sharing a word of encouragement, or offering a listening ear can touch another’s soul. Moreover, Jesus tells us that whatever kindness we do for another we do for him.”
Through such actions of love and hospitality may we collaborate with God to be people whose actions figuratively breathe life into our brothers and sisters, confident that a great reward awaits us even after we have breathed our last.
Father Bambenek is assistant director of the Archdiocesan Synod. He can be reached at bambenekj@archspm.org.
Sunday, June 28
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
