Homily

After a certain number of years, like 70 years, you begin to wonder how many more birthdays you have left in you. You think about all the people you know, younger than you, who have passed away, then there are those who are older than you still here, but they look a lot younger than you do. I remember some of the thoughts of St. Augustine, and pardon me if I paraphrase a bit. He wrote,

“There are two kinds of blessing, temporal, material blessings and eternal blessings. Temporal blessings are health, honor, friends, a home, children, a wife and other things of this life in which we are travelers passing on, not as owners who intend to stay here.”

For me that’s a comforting reminder. There is nothing here that I truly own and nothing here that will not change and pass away. I am only a traveler in this world.

St. Augustine continues:

“Eternal blessings are first, eternal life itself, the incorruption and the immortality of body and soul, the society of the angels, the heavenly city, unfailing glory, the Father and our homeland and He is without death and in our homeland, there are no enemies. Let us desire these blessings with all our hearts and persevere in asking for them.… For eternal blessings are always good for those who have them and they never cause any harm.”

I am always glad to be reminded that this is not my real and lasting home. Sometimes when I am thinking maybe I should vacuum this month, the thought occurs to me, “Don’t worry, this is not your real home.” But you know it’s true. We were not created to vacuum for all eternity. We were made to know, love and serve God in this brief life on earth and to be happy with Him for all eternity when this life is over. We were not made to vacuum, not even to raise a family, not even to do good works, although these are important elements in our lives. We were made to be happy with God, and everything we do in this life, including those works I just mentioned, should be in line with that goal.

St. Augustine continues:

“Just as your own son may not understand how the world works, and you know that, so too you are lacking in the understanding of God’s ways and purposes. Let’s say your son asks for a knife and you will not give it to him lest he harm himself. He cries all day long for what he wants but you don’t give in because of his tears since you do not want to cry over his death.… You refuse your son this one thing, so that he will live. You will not give him even a little thing that might be dangerous for him.”

We have all made choices for things we thought would be good for us only to later discover they were actually harmful or even dangerous. Obviously, some of them were morally wrong and sinful. Others may not have been sinful in any way and yet they still were not good for us. We do not have the knowledge and understanding of God; we cannot safely predict, in every time and place, how things will turn out. But certainly, we should trust that God will never give us any evil thing, nor will He give us even a good thing that might cause us harm, even if we don’t realize it.

So, we pray for what we would like, but we also trust in our Father’s total love for us. We hear the word “journey” used so often today. People say they are on a journey of self-discovery, or an experience, or a tv singing competition—it seems today that everyone is on some kind of journey. But in truth, for us, there is only one journey that matters: we are traveling through this life and we’re on our way back home. All this is passing, temporary, good enough for now, but not good enough forever.

Our Father calls us home and waits for us. He even sent His Son to us to bring us back home to Him. The Son also wants us to come home, where He is, and if we seek Him out as the Magi did, He will never fail to help us. That’s because He was born in the flesh as a human being, giving up, giving up what He had, even His own life, so that all of us could go home. This is the great gift of Christ, Who does not begin His earthly life in His own home, but He comes so that we may end up in the heavenly home He has prepared for us.

We don’t denigrate or despise our time in this world, because it is here that we encounter Christ, and it is here that we learn to follow Him as our final goal. It is here that we use the opportunities given to us to grow in His divine life.

I remember as a child many times around Christmas season at home, in the evening, with the Christmas tree’s warm light filling the room, and the snow outside catching the light of the street lamp, and how warm and safe and how absolutely good and peaceful and safe it felt to be home. But those experiences were only a pointer, a tiny, minuscule glimpse of the future home that has been prepared for me and for you. Let us do our best to trust in the Lord more and more every day, and especially today, let us give sincere and happy thanks to Him for His great love.