Deep within our human psyche is the yearning for home.  More than a physical place, home is about belonging, about being in relationship, about community.  Home, as the saying goes, is where the heart is. Home conjures up feelings of family, security, and peace.   Our major holidays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas have, as one of their central themes, being or coming home with immediate or extended family, the center of celebration the sharing of a meal.  The seasons of summer and autumn traditionally bring family reunions and school homecomings

            Jesus tells us today that “in my Father’s house there are many dwelling places” (Jn. 14:1).  It is a message about home.  Jesus gives us these words at a time of great personal crisis for him and the community of his disciples.  The setting is the Last Supper and Jesus is saying “goodbye” aware of his imminent passion and death, of his return to God the Father.  And so he tells them, “I am going to prepare a place for you…so that where I am you also may be” (Jn 14:2,3).  In speaking about his Father’s “house” Jesus is not speaking about some type of physical building or place we can locate in the vast universe of space.  Rather, Jesus is speaking about a state of being, a living relationship which transcends physical and human limitations and concepts of time, space and place. Jesus is inviting and promising something far far greater than any place or building on earth could offer.  Jesus is telling us that our true “home” is where his life is grounded, where he finds the source of life, where he rests secure and in peace—in the heart of his Father, God.  Even more, Jesus tells his disciples, God’s heart, what he names his Father’s house, is limitless. In the heart of God there is room for every human person.  And the way to the heart of God is through a personal relationship with Jesus. Jesus, as the author of the first letter of Peter names him today the “cornerstone” (I Pt. 4:8), the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me”(Jn. 14:6).  And it is to God’s heart, God’s house, through relationship with Jesus that the disciples and we are invited!

  Baptism is our experience of becoming “living stones” in the house of God. Through it we have bonded to Jesus by the Holy Spirit as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (I Pt. 4:9). Like the heart of God which knows no limits, so too the Church embraces peoples of all races, all cultures, and all walks of life as Pope Benedict in his homily this past Thursday in Washington, D.C. reiterated.  This is an important truth to affirm at a time when both as the Church and as citizens of a nation descended from peoples and nations in every corner of the world, we are challenged with the immigration and assimilation of new waves of people coming to our country. Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles finds the early Christian community grappling with a similar issue as Greek speaking members were being added. In this early community we see a model for our response today.  We hear of ministers specifically ordained for the works of charity and justice, to these newest members.  Continuing down through history the Church has similarly opened its arms in welcome and in imitation of the heart of God worked to supply the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of all its members through such ministries as schools, hospitals, and other forms of social service. Today, the Catholic Church in our own country is the largest private provider of health and social services.  Our own parish school, program of religious education, and social outreach, through the Matthew 25 Fund, Feed My Lambs, Bereavement Ministry, Separated and Divorce support, and other programs give witness of our commitment to be a place of welcome and hospitality of God’s love to all who come to our doors in faith or need in imitation of Jesus who invites us all into his Father’s home.

            There is no more intimate experience of love, belonging, relationship and family than when they are gathered around a table and share a meal together. This weekend we celebrate more of our children sharing with us fully for the first time in the Eucharist in their First Holy Communion.   May their innocence, awe and joy, awaken similar feelings in our having been invited and now dwelling through Jesus in the Father’s house.