Jim Spillane, SJ - University of St. Thomas

a mentality and spirituality is particularly appropriate for the hospitality
professional.
Withing this framework, Christian life and spirituality are a continuous conversion to
God through one's free and full disposal of himself or herself. This occurs at a
profound level of the human person and becomes manifest in acts which may reveal,
though they sometimes hide, his or her actual inner state. This is consistent with the
biblical notion of gradual yet continuing conversion to God and the neighbor; it avoids
the artificiality of the division of the spiritual life into the purgative, illuminative and
unitive ways. Furthermore, the open-endedness of conversion to a lifetime of
development cuts against merely "getting by" in minimalistic interpretation of
Christian life and allows more of a positive dynamic emphasis.
The mistaken notion that natural human features such as emotions, sexuality, humor, a
vibrant personality and a keen sense of joy do not have much of a place in a supernatural
world has to be done away with. Christian spirituality should instead acknowledge the
goodness of all that is human. Emotions, sexuality, temperament, personality and the
prayer life should enter into the Christian response of the whole person.
Development and fulfillment of these truly human aspects should be incorporated into
any authentic approach to the Christian spirituality of work in the hospitality
industry.Building the kingdom of justice, peace, harmony and love should not simply
be relegated to the afterlife. Spirituality should also take the challenge of the future
kingdom to concern ourselves with human beings in their present-day strivings and
problems. That God may be found at the deepest point of the human and that other
persons, events and nature itself reveal God to the believer's eye are the sorts of
emphases which apply directly to an updated spirituality for the hospitality
professional. Discernment must focus on central questions such as: How might they
serve the world in profound love? How might they enter into a dynamic relationship
with people and not be unduly separated from them?
A spirituality for the hospitality industry based on personal response to God in Christ,
through the action of the Holy Spirit, replaces a spirituality founded on a morality of
law and of individual acts. The concerns evidenced in the following questions should
become more central in the person's spirituality: Is life becoming a YES to God? Is the
person choosing more and more to reach out to God and to others selflessly, after the
pattern of God's own Son? Is the person gradually gaining the sense of giving himself or
herself to the action of the Holy Spirit from within, relying on His guidance in a spirit of
freedom and joy? Because Christian holiness implies personal response to a loving God,
leading to genuine a relationship with Him, it rules our a merely instinctual approach to
the spiritual life.
Spirituality has important consequences for the overall tone or mood which
hospitality professionals adopt in their lives. Such a person is in fact an intense cell of
vibrant Christian life. They witness to heavenly values which implies that
hospitality professionals should show by their lives what faith in God can mean: hope,