The idea that Christian households would keep a “Christ room”—a room set aside to receive Christ in the disguise of the stranger in need of shelter—has been part of the Catholic Worker program since its inception.
“When we succeed in persuading our readers to take the homeless into their homes; having a Christ room in the house as St. Jerome said, then we will be known as Christians because of the way we love one another,” Dorothy Day wrote in her 1939 book, House of Hospitality. “We need more Christian homes where the poor are sheltered and cared for.”
Personal responsibility is a basic tenet of the Catholic Worker. Peter Maurin, co-founder of the Catholic Worker, drew on the French personalist philosophers as he outlined the aims and means of the Catholic Worker. One of his Easy Essays, “Municipal Lodgings,” laments the failure of Christians to take personal responsibility for sheltering the poor:
1. People who are in need
are not invited
to spend the night
in homes of the rich.
2. There are guest rooms
in the homes of the rich
but they are not
for those who need them.
3. They are not
for those who need them
because those who need them
are no longer considered
as the Ambassadors of God.
4. So the duty of hospitality
is no longer considered
as a personal duty.
5. So people without a home
are sent to the city
where hospitality is given
at the taxpayer's expense.
Ultimately, though, the idea of opening one’s home to those in need of shelter is rooted in the teaching of Jesus, particularly in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats:
“Then the righteouswill answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
(Matthew 25:37-40)
The Church Fathers often preached on the necessity of Christian hospitality. Dorothy was fond of citing Saint Jerome, who himself established a hospice for pilgrims in Jerusalem. St. John Chrysostom frequently preached on the subject of Christian hospitality:
Make for yourself a guest-chamber in your own house: set up a bed there, set up a table there and a candlestick. [cp. 2 Kings 4:10]…. Have a room to which Christ may come; say, “This is Christ’s cell; this building is set apart for Him.”
John Chrysostom, Homily 45 on Acts
To learn more about Christ rooms, see the following links.
Articles by Dorothy Day
Of Finances and Personal Initiative
Room For Christ
Summary: Meditation on hospitality, that is, seeing Christ in those around us, ministering to others the way Christ ministered and was ministered to; with examples of this from the Scriptures. Encourages all to some form of the “privilege” of hospitality not because people remind us of Christ “but because they are Christ.” (DDLW #416). The Catholic Worker, December 1945, 2.
Letter To Our Readers at the Beginning of Our Fifteenth Year
On Pilgrimage – November 1951
Poverty is the Face of Christ
Summary: Describes the struggle in establishing farming communes as Peter Maurin taught. Poverty, toil, and suffering are bore by the young families trying to live on the land. She writes to comfort these fellow workers who live day by day. (DDLW #641). The Catholic Worker, December 1952, 3, 6.
The Christ Room Network
Book recommendation
While developing its Christ room project, Casa Alma Catholic Worker (Charlottesville, Virginia) “read and re-read” Christine Pohl’s now-classic text on Christian hospitality, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition. First written in 1999, the book has been re-issued in a 25th anniversary edition. From the publisher (Eerdman’s) marketing copy: “Pohl combines rich biblical and historical research with experience in contemporary Christian communities, including the Catholic Worker, L’Abri, Good Works, Inc., and others. Pragmatic and thoughtful, Pohl deals frankly with both the blessings and the boundaries of hospitality.”
As of this writing, a chapter of the book was available online.
