Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

One day Elisha came to Shunem, where there was a woman of influence, who urged him to dine with her. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he used to stop there to dine. - 2 Kings 4:8

She urged him to dine. The initiative is hers - she recognized the holy man, she extended the hospitality, she consulted her husband and arranged the room. She did not wait for a request or an announcement. She saw what was holy, created space for it, and offered without calculation.

The Shunammite woman is the practical image of whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet - she does not know yet what the receiving will produce. She makes the room because the man is holy and holy men need a place to rest. The son comes after.

Consider yourselves dead to sin and living for God. The new life Paul describes is the life that makes the Shunammite woman's hospitality possible - not the careful calculation of what I will get for what I give, but the living-for-God that gives because giving is what the living-for-God does.

She arranged the room before she was asked. Name one person in your life for whom you could arrange the room - create the space, provide the support, extend the hospitality - without being asked and without calculating the return. Do it this week. The promised son comes after, not before.

Lord, let me see what is holy and make room for it. Let the living-for-you produce the hospitality that doesn't calculate the return. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.