During the Korean thanksgiving holiday, the first week of October, I stayed at a Benedictine Retreat Center. I was given such care , dignity and value through the way the sisters live out real Christian hospitality. These ladies have given their lives over to serving God through hospitality. What a witness they are to me. They practice the scripture that says, "When you welcome a stranger (foreigner) you welcome me."
A quote from Christine Pohl's "Making Room". P. 74-5
“In many settings the line between the shared meal and the Eucharist is blurred; the two flow into each other much as was the case in the early church. The sacramental aspects of meals become clearest in these settings, but even separate from the Eucharist, one often sense a divine mystery in dining together at a table of welcome."
Since I've started reading "Making Room" I’ve become more aware of the importance of shared meals. I think home cooked meals carry special value too. This week my time with the ladies was centered around the meal time. Also, our worship together was centered around meal times. Before every meal we met in the chapel to pray. Their prayers were chanted and they sang beautifully. Even thought I didn’t understand the words it was clear God was present. After prayer they finished meal preparation. We’d stand at the table and they would sing a prayer together for the meal. They would finish by crossing themselves and I never knew whether I should or not. ; ) Also at the end of the meal, when everyone had finished, they prayed a prayer of thanks for the fellowship and food.The time I spent together with the sisters was almost always at meal times because the rest of the day I was working on the paper, sleeping, reading or running. I realized how valued I was to them at meal times. During the week they cooked food specifically because they knew I liked it. They made fresh bread every morning because they knew Americans don't eat rice and kimchi for breakfast. They served me first. The meal they made on Thanksgiving Day was a dish they knew to be my favorite Korean dish. Imagine that, making a foreigners favorite dish on your Thanksgiving holiday! Wow. During meal times we laughed and joked as much as we could with the language barriers. It is easier than one might think to joke with people without the use of verbal language. I was fortunate that one of the women spoke English well enough to do some translating. Most of the time, however, I was immersed in Korean. I know enough Korean and can read body language well enough to know generally what they were talking about. It was so obvious that these women were pleasant, friendly, kind, fun, and curious about me. I realized that their openness to me changed me. There are certain foods that I despise in Korea. Mostly they are seafood related. One such item is the full fish with tail, skin, head, eyes and teeth all in tack. Donabel, you know this fish very well. In my first week in Korea more than two years ago I had a bad experience with fish. Ever since then I’ve refused to even try some seafood dishes. However, when it was placed in front of me and the sisters had cooked it, I knew I couldn’t refuse. I couldn’t refuse their gracious kindness. They had opened themselves and their lives for me and mysteriously that created a space in me to risk opening myself to them. I thought if only they could teach me how to eat the fish with chopsticks, then I would at least try it. I watched one of the sisters eating and followed her. I tasted it and found it to be delicious. The sisters even commented on my skill with chopsticks. I was free to risk because they risked having me. So I guess that IS what happens when hospitality is shared. Making room is contagious. When room is made for me then I make room for the other. I'm sure it doesn't happen all the time but at least I've experienced how it should work. There is no question that our meal times were sacramental in the sense that I experienced the divine mystery. (And I’m not just talking about the mystery of the conversation…all in Korean!)
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