The first welcome comes with water.

At the font we are received into Christ’s Church, marked by grace before we have anything to offer in return.

A few steps away waits another welcome: tea, conversation, friendship, and the simple kindness of sharing time together.

In St Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare, these two vessels stand close together. One speaks of the beginning of faith; the other of the life that follows.

Hospitality is not an extra to the Gospel. It is one of the ways the promises made at the font continue to be lived.

Read a poem inspired by this photograph on NeuroDivine.ie.