“We read in the Gospel of St John
that when Jesus went to Bethany,
to the house of his friend Lazarus, one of his friend's sisters, called Martha,
busied herself about the house. The other, Mary, gave her entire attention to
the Lord. It seems that this was by far the more commendable kind of action: if
you receive a friend as a guest into your house, you look after him - that is,
you keep him company and converse with him. You do not leave him in the sitting
room, or anywhere else in the house reading the newspaper to amuse himself
until you have time to attend to him. Without doubt this would be a dereliction
of good manners. And if the person were of such importance that the mere fact
of his coming to your house would be regarded as an honor far surpassing your
condition and deserts, the discourtesy would be tantamount to a gross insult.”
(Federico Suarez from The Sacrifice of the Altar)
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