Jesus, the host

Psalm 23, titled "The Lord, Shepherd and Host," (NAB) is one of my favorites. For most of my life, I really latched on to the "shepherd" role in the title and somehow, until more recently, completely overlooked the "and host" part. It is delightful to me that God would be so kind to help us relate to him through this language and imagery, to think about our Lord as someone who welcomes us in and puts together a banquet for us, wanting to nourish not only our bodies with "a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines" as Isaiah 25:6 (NAB) says, but also nourish our minds, spirits, souls with good conversation, deep thought and love, in the same way we want to do these things for others when we invite them in to our homes.

Verses 5-6 (NAB) tell us about the generous host our God is: "You set a table before me in front of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Indeed, goodness and mercy will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for endless days."

These are longings we can relate to: the desire to provide a place for people to abide and belong in. To feed and strengthen. To kindle fire and warmth and deep, deep peace in souls through a physical setting that does the same.

All these things, our God, our host, wants to do for us, too.

In Catholicism, the wafer of bread that is transubstantiated into Jesus' body is called the host. He is, quite literally, our Host. When the priest holds the bread up in the air and it is transformed into Jesus' body, it is the most powerful moment of the Mass. At that moment, we can place our praises, worries, petitions and anyone we're praying for up onto the plate to be transformed with the bread.

Then, we take it and eat him; the host becomes us, and we become the host. We host each other's struggles and concerns, joys and praises. We let them become our struggles, concerns, joys and praises. And we let our struggles, concerns, joys and praises be hosted by others. It is all part of inviting each other in with the hospitality of becoming one.

The book "Theology of Home" proposes making a home is so intricately tied to the depths of our spirituality that it is a theology; the book advocates for husbands, wives, children, and single people to turn inward to our homes to create a space for our families and friends to abide in that brings peace and joy and hope and all of the fruits of the Spirit into our lives, so our families can visibly manifest to the world the invisible Trinity. It is, I believe, a beautiful truth: This holiday season and always as we host events and welcome people into our homes, with his love through us, we can reflect our Lord who is host to us, the home we all yearn for.

The Lord is our host. When the reflections of that in this world seem dim, we can take comfort in his words: He is going to prepare a place for us. Would he tell us this if it were not so?

We have a place to belong, in him.