“I’ll be home for Christmas.” I am willing to bet that sentence is repeated millions of times every holiday season and not just in some song on the radio.

 

Children, parents, friends, family and members of the military have sent letters, emails, text messages and made thousands of phone calls to assure loved ones that yes, “I’ll be home for Christmas.”

 

What home?

 

The place where you live, grew up, or that you claim as a current address? Is that home?

 

Is it a house, an apartment, condo, a car, a place on the street?

 

Some as far back as 23-79 A.D. say “home is where the heart is.” So does that mean home is anywhere and everywhere?

 

If you are a regular reader of the obituaries, many times you will see it written that the deceased person was “called home.” To people of faith, that phrase is meaningful. Reading that phrase gives one a sense of peace and seems to denote an existence free from pain, stress, fear, worry and all the rigors of the earthly world.

 

While I am guessing that the majority of the Christian world doesn’t want to be “called home” like that, just yet, for Christmas, they would definitely say that that home is the real deal. The home referred to in the obituaries is the home that is of God, for God and with God. And that is our goal right? We do all that we do on earth to be of God, for God and with God to dwell forever in that heavenly home.

 

We hear about our churches being home to God. We know that our tabernacles hold the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. Our faith teaches us that where the true Presence is, God is. We spend reflective, prayerful hours in adoration chapels before the Divine Presence. That can feel like home. But it is just an earthly dwelling for us. 

 

On the front page of this issue of The Observer, we have reprinted the beautiful words shared with us in the Gospel of Luke which detail Joseph and Mary returning to their home to be counted. We know too that Mary knew intimately that Bethlehem was not to be the home of Jesus. When she said yes to God, she knew in her heart that her precious child would not make His home with her and Joseph. Our Blessed Mother knew the child of her womb was to be among those He would teach and serve until He could return to His Father in Heaven — His home. 

 

Home is where God dwells. Our true home is the place where we begin — with the One who holds us in the palm of His hand and the One who knows and has counted every hair on our heads. And hopefully, after this earthly journey, we will end there as well. 

 

So visiting the earthly home of Christ in our parishes and celebrating His birth, among others seeking ultimately to be “called home,” should be natural to us this Christmas. We know there are those who will “come home for Christmas” but not be home with Christ. That should spur us to remind our loved ones where home really is. We all have friends and family who have fallen out of the regular practice of their faith. We know people who have been hurt in one way or another by the Church and the very human people in it. However, it is part of our responsibility of faith to help others find a home too. So even if it’s uncomfortable or politically incorrect in your circle of friends and family, invite someone to come home for Christmas … home to Christ. Hold their hand, calm their fears and make a visit to Mass a priority … help them feel at home.

 

I hope you and your family will find yourselves home with Christ this Christmas. I hope that our churches can be filled not just at Christmas, but all year, with people seeking to find that sense of peace that only God can provide. 

 

“I’ll be home for Christmas. You can plan on me ... .”

 

Merry Christmas from all of us at The Observer.