Alicia LaCroix said the early Christians always had an extra mattress, candle and bread for anyone who showed up at the door, as if it were “Jesus showing up at their door.” Her family tries to keep “an open house,” she said, and in north Minneapolis, people do show up.
In fact, her family is currently hosting some people who needed a place to live. She said their approach to hospitality has fed her family members’ souls just as much as anything the family can do for them.
Alicia LaCroix
LaCroix shared her story with Patrick Conley during a recent interview for the “Practicing Catholic” radio show.
“Being a parent makes it more evident to me every day that I am the first face of Christ that my children see,” she said. With risks “in everything we do,” she said it seems like not exposing her children to others who don’t look like them or haven’t had the same type of life as them is riskier than potential injury, “because I just know how important it is for them to see that these things are not ours, and that this home is not ours, and that anybody is welcome.”
She encourages her children to see Jesus in others and recognize that every moment is an opportunity for evangelization. “It doesn’t need to be work. It can just be that true love.”
LaCroix, who said she teaches “very part-time” at Ascension Catholic School in Minneapolis and is a catechist with a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program, said she has experienced a mindset shift about “what is mine.” Generosity is thought of as wanting to give enough, “but there’s never really enough,” she said. “And it’s this realization that everything I have is a gift anyways. … I have all these things. … Who is Jesus asking me to provide this for?”
“It’s also relational,” she said, “like trying to remain in relationship with the neighbors that we know might need some assistance, or single moms who might be struggling at a certain time of year.”
Asked what tips she’d offer to people who want to deepen their practice of hospitality and love for others, LaCroix suggested assisting Mary’s Place, part of Sharing and Caring Hands in Minneapolis, and refugee assistance programs, citing the example of one where individuals or families can sponsor an Afghan refugee family for a year. Many organizations need donations, “but to truly be able to build a connection with one person who is struggling in a way that we have never experienced before” is important, she said.
“Then it can be a relationship of not only giving things, but also praying for that person and supporting them in finding a job or getting their license … Any way to truly build a relationship can be so life-changing and so much more fulfilling.”
LaCroix said she had a great conversion to the needs of the poor in high school when she visited the Dominican Republic and saw “true poverty.” A Catholic for six years, she said learning about the saints also has inspired her.
Sometimes people think it’s either about living a life of prayer or doing works of service, she said. “And I think it’s really clear in all of our saints that they all did both,” spending intimate, needed time with Jesus to be filled up and using what they were filled with to spread it to others.
At the end of the interview, Conley asked LaCroix for resources, such as books, articles, websites or podcasts, for learning more about hospitality. To hear what she suggested and to listen to the full interview, tune into this episode of “Practicing Catholic,” which airs at 9 p.m. Dec. 17, 1 p.m. Dec. 18 and 2 p.m. Dec. 19 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes interviews with Bishop-elect Joseph Williams, who describes what he is looking forward to as the new auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and Father Paul Hedman, who gives insights and tips for making a good confession this Advent, and why it’s so important to our lives as practicing Catholics.
Listen to all of the interviews after they have aired at
Recent Comments