It is hard to describe my vocation to hospitality in a few words. I understand Hospitality to mean the total and unconditional welcome extended to another person, to a brother or sister who may be living through a time of pain and suffering.

I am a Pastoral Care worker and every day I have to renew my commitment to hospitality to reach out to the sick and their loved ones, with respect, without preconceived ideas, offering myself wholly to them because whatever problems I may have myself, I have to leave them at the door. I have to put aside all my concerns, my fears and any sufferings, to focus all my attention solely on the person in my care, and offer my closeness and my welcome.

Whenever I enter the house of a sick person I always to recall the words that God spoke to Moses before the burning bush: “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (Ex 3, 2). For at this moment the room is the most sacred place, in which Christ himself is waiting for me, embodied in that person facing suffering, in that family whose plans have been thrown into disarray by sickness, and which, in most cases, they are preparing to say goodbye to their dear one.