I’ve had the charism of hospitality since I was a young girl. I inherited it from both sides of my family. I was throwing dinner parties like crazy, just like my dad, by the time I was 18. I’ve had thousands of personal encounters with friends and the friendless at my house throughout the past 18 years. Despite all those I’ve welcomed to my house, I’ve recently felt particularly lonely as only a few people ever reach out to me to seek friendship with me and check on me. Being provoked by this sense of something lacking, I discerned through prayer that I would like to start welcoming new parishioners at the Cathedral.

In prayer, I perceived Jesus telling me to invite new people to have new experiences at The Rose, the affectionate name of my house since I live on Rosemary. Honestly, The Rose is a community house, as it is called by others; I simply pay the mortgage and clean occasionally. Within less than two weeks, I felt my heart come alive again. I invited two of my friends, which were my dad’s friends first, three church ladies going through menopause, which is quite the age gap from me, and seven civil engineering co-workers and peers. All three gatherings were filled with joy, being truly present to one another, laughing, and no phones with the table set up beautifully, one of my favorite things to do. The food was impeccable: a Cajun Power chili; a homemade white sauce pasta with sundried tomatoes, eggplant, mushrooms, garlic, onion and fresh rosemary; a spinach pear and blackberry gorgonzola salad with a balsamic reduction; breaded garlic cauliflower; carrots and parsnips with honey and fresh rosemary, homemade cheesecake with berries, the fine red wines, etc.

Usually every person that comes to my house wants to help out in some way. I’ve learned to leave certain tasks undone on purpose. For the dinner party with the engineers, I taught them how to make dough and roll out a double crust for a chicken pot pie. Each person had a part. The next day I heard from each and every one of them. “Last night was so special. Thank you. We’re hosting the next time.” “We had such a great time.” “Thank you so much for such a wonderful, fun evening!!”, etc. What struck me is that this group was made up of Catholics, non-practicing Catholics, and non-Christians. Yet, as always, Christ emerged. Giussani continues to impact me when he commented that being more Christian is being more human and being more human is being more Christian. Perhaps, the unsolicited responses from these new friends meant simply that they had an authentic experience of living the real intensely.

The following day, my hospitality took me to the nursing home with a blueberry, mushroom, red onion spinach salad, brussels sprouts, a shrimp dish, pumpkin cheesecake, white wine, and a table all in hand. I’m friends with a nun there and she dictated the menu to me. I have also become friends with her friends who are residents there. I brought the fine dining experience to them. The tablecloth, the French roses china, the real silver, the crystal. All on the side of one of their beds. This new friend had sores, which prevented her from getting into a wheelchair. She rarely has a single family member go visit her and they never think about home cooked food. She has been at the nursing home for over five years without a single home cooked meal. Both she and the nun called each night as they consumed the leftovers to express what a lovely experience it was. Even many of the CNA’s stopped by to see this fine dining and I wonder how the real impacted them. I returned to work and told a different co-worker about my experiences. She was moved to tears. Renewed in spirit, I sense Jesus developing my vocation of hospitality to greater depths, to teaching others hospitality, to living reality, and with intentional companionship more intensely. When will Jesus actuate my longing to welcome new parishioners? Who are all those concrete faces that I will welcome to The Rose in the future to make vivid this love He has for me, for them? How is Jesus making me more His to be more for others?

Alison, Lafayette, LA