Receiving Jesus

"... whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." (Jn 13:20).  When do we receive Jesus?  We could easily say, "in Holy Communion" and be very right.  That is the moment par excellence  when we host Jesus in the recesses of our heart.  He is our special guest to whom we give the greatest hospitality we can. But there are other times when Jesus comes looking for that hospitality:  when someone stops us when we are busily on our way to another task, and unloads a concern or burden he or she is bearing. It's a call for us to lay aside our agenda, and take time to welcome, to listen to, and to just be a sounding board for this person, as if it were Jesus himself asking for our time.  It might be a phone call, or an e-mail that "intrudes" on our day, our plans, but would we hesitate to be totally present if Jesus appeared in a vision?  Most of the time he chooses to come to us in the people and situations of our daily lives.  It is in these places that we tend to miss him, or treat him with brusque inhospitality. What do we need to do to link the welcome we give to Jesus in Holy Communion, with the welcome we give to those who knock at our door at what we deem the most inopportune time? How can we come to see these "inopportune moments"  as special times of visitation from the One we claim to live above all else?
Bro. Rene