"There's no place like home." While most Americans relate this phrase to Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I believe it is more correctly associated with Jesus. The word "home" appears 30 times in the Gospels and the word "house" appears 99 times! So much of Jesus' ministry of teaching, healing, forgiving and sharing meals takes place in the home.
Take a minute and think of some of the significant events that took place in the home. Here are a few to jog your memory: the Visitation, the healing of Peter's mother-in-law, the Last Supper, the washing of the disciples' feet, the meal at Simon the Pharisees' home with the sinful woman, the wise men in the house presenting their gifts, the recognition of Jesus in the home at Emmaus, the healing of Jairus' daughter, and the forgiving and healing of the paralytic lowered through the roof, to name a few.
As one who has studied in the Holy Land a few times, I can certainly affirm that it is a wonderful experience to walk along the sandy shores of the Galilee and imagine Jesus preaching or envision Him rubbing elbows with the crowds making their way through the bustling streets in the Old City of Jerusalem. However, much of Jesus' ministry related in the Gospels was spent in the homes of people. I believe there is a message for us today about Christ's presence in our own homes and meeting him there.
While we gather at Church for our communal worship and reception of the sacraments, it's the home that really forms us and can be the place where we first encounter Jesus and be touched by grace whether we realize it or not. It's in the home that faith is not only taught, but rather, "caught" by how we treat one another. St. Therese, the Little Flower, said that if you wanted to see a person pray, "Watch my father pray." What a powerful witness that must have been in young Therese's life — the power and witness of a prayerful father besides his bed each evening.
How can we bring Christ into our homes? This is a crucial challenge for all Catholics, for if we drop the ball, the "world" will quickly swallow us up along with our families. "No time for God" is not a statement of fact, but of priority! This doesn't mean that we abandon the world, but instead means that our work of transforming the world begins in our homes.
Here are a few simple things we do as a family to bring Christ into our homes:
>Have a prayer bowl. Place a statue of Jesus or Mary in front of it and place loved ones' names in it. We have our 3 year old daughter grab 3 slips of paper out of it before saying our nighttime prayer and we pray specifically for those people or intentions.
>Have a family Saint. Have the children choose a Saint, or give them some choices, to watch over your family. Celebrate the saint's feast day with a meal or party and include the saint in your grace before meals or daily prayers.
>Think of the liturgical seasons and highlight them at home. For example: during Lent pick up a circular piece of Styrofoam and place toothpicks in it symbolizing the crown of thorns. Every time a family member does a good deed, sacrifices or acts out of love have that person remove a toothpick. It sends a powerful message and helps families catch the members doing acts of charity.
>When food shopping, have the children choose something for the poor. Having a child pick out a can of soup for the parish's food pantry reinforces Christ's call to remember the poor and marginalized. The child may not be able to articulate the Church's social teaching on the preferential option for the poor but the physical act of picking out food will be a lasting memory.
This is not an exhaustive list but hopefully it will get you and your family thinking. Find something you have to do every day and figure out how to incorporate Christ into it. There is no place like home, especially when Christ is a welcome member.
