Bible
Study: Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38. / Mathew 13:47-53.
As I write
these few lines, I am about to board a plane that would put me on the air for
over 15 hours over a distance of about 6,000 miles back home. To some extent, I
feel sad that I would be returning to my usually hectic routine; assignments,
responsibilities and other duties but to another extent, I feel happy for the opportunities
I have had, the new things I have learned and the friends I have made. As I return,
I can’t help but reflect on that last day when I would have to pack up and
return home to my Father in heaven!
Truly,
there is no place like home. No matter how beautiful where we are may be, home
is always better because that is where we come from and the only place where we
are truly kings. When I speak of “home” I am not just referring to your place
of biological origin but to your true home, the place not made with hands or
things perishable but the place where the millions of Angels are waiting to
give you a grand reception; a place where moth and rust cannot destroy and
where thieves cannot break in and steal.
Just as
every country has an embassy in foreign lands, such that if you are citizen,
your being at the embassy is almost as good as being at home, so also God, the
President of our real home has embassies all over which are called Churches.
Even more powerful than ordinary embassies, the church is a place where God literally
dwells. The Psalmist today sings: “HOW LOVELY IS YOUR DWELLING PLACE O LORD,
MIGHTY GOD.”
Does it
often occur to you when you walk into a church that you are actually coming
home? Are you able to relax placing yourself, your thoughts, emotions, feelings
fears, hopes, desires etc. in God’s presence? Or painfully, do you sometimes consider
time spent in church as wasted?
In our
first reading today, we are told: “Then the cloud covered the meeting tent, and
the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling. Moses could not enter the meeting
tent, because the cloud settled down upon it and the glory of the LORD filled
the Dwelling.” This was the beginning of Church – once God decided to come into
the midst of men physically, there was need to set aside a place of reverence,
a place of worship, a place of meeting. And this was also the beginning of the priesthood
as certain persons needed to be trained, consecrated and set aside to keep holy
things holy.
My soul is
yearning longing and yearning, waiting to be in God’s presence. A day in God’s
house is better than a thousand elsewhere! I would rather dwell in the foot-mats
of God’s house than have a three bedroom suite in the devil’s mansion. No place
like home! No matter where I go, east or west, home is home! No matter how I
move around in the world, the church remains the only place where I return to
find inner strength, peace and rest for my soul. When I get busy, I long for
home, I long to retire to a place of refuge, a place of protection and rescue
from the dangers of the world around. Not even one second spent in church is
ever a waste of time.
If you do
not feel this way about the church, then perhaps you are one of the small
fishes Jesus speaks about in the parable in today’s Gospel. You are not strong
enough, your faith is still fragile, you are still being swayed by the world,
you still prefer to remain a foreigner in a strange land, so you get thrown
back into the water, back into the world. Pray that you do not be like the
small fish that refuses to grow, that the fishermen keep returning to the water
again and again! If you are not harvested eventually, you are useless. May this
never be your portion in Jesus Name. Amen
Let us
pray:
Lord
Jesus, help me to always feel at home in your church and enjoy your presence. May
I never try in vain to seek from outside that which I can only find at home. Amen.
Good evening.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you.
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