SUN, FEB 19, 2023
4:00 PM ET | FLOOR 1

An Unconditional Embrace

Witnesses in light of The Miracle of Hospitality, the newly published book by Fr. Luigi Giussani, with Ashley and Nate Kaufman, foster parents, Maria Chiara and Rick Kushner, mother and father, Tom Tobin, high school teacher, and Hashmat Wali, manager, financial reporting and analyst, and Afghan refugee

The Miracle of Hospitality is a newly published book by Fr. Luigi Giussani. It is a collection of conversations over several years with families fostering children. In it, Fr. Giussani offers reflections that shed light not only on the experience of fostering but more generally on the attitude of welcoming (and being welcomed by) the presence of an "other," even when such presence is unexpected or does not match our plans. In a passage at the very beginning of the book Fr. Giussani states, “If we do not feel welcomed or loved in the first place, we cannot share anything. In other words, we cannot make our presence part of another’s presence; we cannot open our presence to welcome the presence of another.” This attitude of openness, which Fr. Giussani calls a miracle, will be the focus of the witnesses of a father and mother who welcomed a very special son, an Afghani refugee, and a couple fostering 3 children.