A Personal Invitation

"If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home," and she prevailed on us. // Acts 16:15

We had just finished dinner together, and our friend was unwrapping a large chocolate bar to split apart for a group of us to share around the table. There were maybe six or seven of us there that night, and the room wasn't spacious. So we all sat close to one another, eating homemade pasta, and the conversation was easy, laid back, and comfortable. There was nothing about our friends' hosting that was meant to impress any of us, yet the warmth and good conversation shared around that table is something we'll never forget.

Experiences around tables like this one have majorly influenced how I look at hosting others in our home, particularly when it comes to last-minute inspirations to invite someone over. Instead of thinking that the living room could use vacuuming, that the mail could be moved from the dining table, or that I don't have the perfect meal planned to serve, I think back to that memorable evening and how our friends invited us all into their home—as it was. Which, in turn, made many of us feel comfortable coming as we were.

In today's First Reading (see Acts 16:11-15), Lydia's heart was moved and opened by the Lord, and she followed that movement to invite Paul and his fellow missionaries into her home. I don't know how much she felt she needed to do around her home to make them feel comfortable there, but the Holy Spirit led her to share the invitation regardless. And that's the kind of hospitality I think we all enjoy most—both as the host and as the guest.

So while Saint Lydia isn't the patron saint of hosting large gatherings—she happens to be the patron of dyers of cloth—her example can still inspire us to listen to that movement in our hearts to share our own invitations. Even if they’re last-minute. Even if things aren't perfect.