Explore the deeper concepts of Christian hospitality--the biblical way to use your home and an open heart to care for others.

The aim of this booklet is to help foster an understanding of the plight of migrants that leads to action in the local faith community. Understanding of the role of the Christian towards the ever more present reality of migration and of the great Catholic tradition of hospitality is more important than ever, especially if we want or desire to make the appropriate response. The actions may not change situations in the homelands from which people migrated in the first place but the action we undertake in our neighborhood where we live together can have amazing impacts for the stranger, for us and for our community, eventually influencing policy via our mutual understanding of the way our world is functioning or not functioning. The information in this booklet will hopefully help nurture the instincts of those who wish to make a difference in the face of the current crisis which brings with it so much tragedy. Author interviewed on High Noon on Newstalk with George Hook.

The long-awaited memoir by Canada’s most celebrated Olympian and advocate for mental health. From one of Canada’s most decorated Olympians comes a raw but life-affirming story of one woman’s struggle with depression. In 2006, when Clara Hughes stepped onto the Olympic podium in Torino, Italy, she became the first and only athlete ever to win multiple medals in both Summer and Winter Games. Four years later, she was proud to carry the Canadian flag at the head of the Canadian team as they participated in the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. But there’s another story behind her celebrated career as an athlete, behind her signature billboard smile. While most professional athletes devote their entire lives to training, Clara spent her teenage years using drugs and drinking to escape the stifling home life her alcoholic father had created in Elmwood, Winnipeg. She was headed nowhere fast when, at sixteen, she watched transfixed in her living room as gold medal speed skater Gaétan Boucher effortlessly raced in the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Dreaming of one day competing herself, Clara channeled her anger, frustration, and raw ambition into the endurance sports of speed skating and cycling. By 2010, she had become a six-time Olympic medalist. But after more than a decade in the gruelling world of professional sports that stripped away her confidence and bruised her body, Clara began to realize that her physical extremes, her emotional setbacks, and her partying habits were masking a severe depression. After winning bronze in the last speed skating race of her career, she decided to retire from that sport, determined to repair herself. She has emerged as one of our most committed humanitarians, advocating for a variety of social causes both in Canada and around the world. In 2010, she became national spokesperson for Bell Canada’s Let’s Talk campaign in support of mental health awareness, using her Olympic standing to share the positive message of the power of forgiveness. Told with honesty and passion, Open Heart, Open Mind is Clara’s personal journey through physical and mental pain to a life where love and understanding can thrive. This revelatory and inspiring story will touch the hearts of all Canadians.

In Open Wound, Open Heart, Open Hands, author Leta H. Montague uses the lives of some biblical personalities to discuss the issues of hurts and wounds in relationship moving toward healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation. It is a refreshing perspective that interposes personal vignettes with biblical truths, demonstrating that God can use the hurts and wounds to call, prepare, and transform people for use in his kingdom.

In Open Heart, Open Mind, Tsoknyi Rinpoche—one of the most beloved of the contemporary generation of Tibetan Buddhist meditation masters—explains that a life free of fear, pain, insecurity, and doubt is not only possible, it’s our birthright. We long for peace, for the ability to love and be loved openly and freely, and for the confidence and clarity to meet the various challenges we face in our daily lives. Within each of us resides a spark of unparalleled brilliance, an unlimited capacity for warmth, openness, and courage, which Rinpoche identifies as “essence love.” Timeless and imperishable, essence love is often layered over by patterns of behavior and belief that urge us to seek happiness in conditions or situations that never quite live up to their promise. Drawing on rarely discussed teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, Rinpoche describes how such patterns evolve and offers a series of meditation exercises to help us unravel them and, in the process, reawaken an energy and exuberance that can not only bring lasting fulfillment to our lives but ultimately serve to enliven and inspire the entire world, as well. With great humor, intelligence, and candor, Tsoknyi Rinpoche also details his own struggles to reconnect with essence love. Identified at an early age as the incarnation of a renowned Tibetan master and subjected to a rigorous monastic training, he ultimately renounced his vows, married, and is now the father of two daughters. As he recounts his own efforts to strike a balance between the promptings of his heart and an obligation to preserve and protect the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, Rinpoche provides a bridge between ancient wisdom and modern life, and encourages each of us to rediscover the openness, fearlessness, and love that is the essence of our own life.

Hospitality is not about fancy dinners and great impressions . . . it's about humbling your heart and being open to meeting people where they are. It's exactly what Christ did for us, and we have the privilege of following His example. Yes, it might be uncomfortable at first; but when you open the door to your home and heart to others, you open the door to unexpected blessings. Hang the "welcome sign" of Christian hospitality on the door of your life and see what God can do through you.