Hospitality
- Check out Soren’s interview on “Evangelization through Hospitality” (Homeschooling Saints Podcast).
- In “Hospitality is Biblical—and It’s Not Optional” (Catholic Answers), Emily Cook writes, “All that is really needed to be an excellent host is a loving heart, an open ear, and eyes that see Christ in each person who crosses the threshold.”
- At The Catholic Hospitality Training Institute under “free resources,” you’ll find some thought-provoking downloads on topics such as “hospitality & the Catholic tradition,” and, “hospitality & beauty.”
- In “House Churches in the New Testament” (Franciscan Media), Theresa Doyle-Nelson provides fascinating details about the specific house churches of Mary of Jerusalem, Lydia, Nympha, Priscilla and Aquila, and Philemon and Apphia.
- In “The Early Church Assembled in Houses” (Diocese of Little Rock), Clifford M. Yeary gives us a glimpse of the house churches of Corinth, and poses the question, “What are some simple steps modern families could take to make their family homes something of a house church?”
- Here’s a compilation of 14 Bible verses which mention house churches.
- In “The Role of Family in God’s Designs From ‘House Churches’ to the ‘Domestic Church'” (The Catholic Telegraph), Fr. Robert Hater writes, “Many Christians, to this day, miss the implications of this shift…to Domestic Church, until they consider the special role of the family in God’s designs.”
- “The Grace and Call of Hospitality” (Catholic Culture), Fr. John Navone gives us a way to think about the heart of hospitality and service: “[God] is not hospitable out of necessity; rather, his hospitality expresses the joy and happiness that he is. The Triune God of Jesus Christ is hospitably self-giving by nature.” It follows that we, who are made in the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity, are called to be “hospitably self-giving by nature.”
- In “The Explanation of This Famous Icon Will Give You a Deeper Understanding of the Trinity” about Andrei Rublev’s Trinity icon, Garrett Johnson quotes Oliver Clement: ‘It is not a question of thinking about the Trinity, but in it, starting from the Trinity as the unshakeable foundation of all Christian thought.’
- Check out Soren and Ever’s interview (YouTube) for Locally Leesburg with Melanie Scoggins.
- Check out “In Every Guest, We See Christ” by Elizabeth Foss.
- We recommend Building the Benedict Option: A Guide to Gathering Two or Three Together in His Name by Leah Libresco.
- In this podcast interview (Made for Love podcast), we shared our thoughts on hospitality, service, and your own family Trinity House.
- In “Hope during the Coronavirus,” Bishop Robert Barron encourages us all to ask ourselves, “What is the opportunity for love that has been opened up to me by this moment”?
- In “The ABCs of Hospitality,” (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology), Emily Stimpson Chapman helps us to see the difference between hospitality and entertaining. She writes, “The person exercising hospitality is focused on others.”
Service
- In “Volunteer with Your Children” (Institute for Family Studies), Erica Komisar states: “Empathy begins at home.”
- Check out “100+ Service Ideas for Religious Education” (Loyola Press), many of which can be implemented by your own family.
- If you live within the Diocese of Arlington, check out ways to volunteer in service to your community. And nationwide, here is a list of opportunities (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops).
- In “What Does it Mean to ‘Lay Down Your Life’ as a Family Man?” (Aleteia), Theresa Civantos Barber writes, “Let’s embrace the cross of dying to self in loving service, right in our own family homes.”
- Considering donating to or volunteering your time at St. Lucy Food Project (Catholic Charities), which is supporting food pantries in Northern Virginia in the “fight against hunger.”
