St. Therese & Our "Forever Home"

“The world is thy ship, not thy home.”

— St. Therese of Lisieux
The Story of a Soul
Manuscript A, Chap. 4 "Child of Mary"

 

This year my wife and I purchased our first home, it is a simple place that was built in the 1950s. In doing some renovating we discovered that at one point the whole house was painted green, even the shed! We are enjoying our time here and the extra space it has afforded our growing family as well as our proximity to our parish. However, down the road we envision another house that we sometimes call our “forever home.”
 
And yet our forever home and your forever home cannot be found on this earth, even in sunny Oklahoma. Whenever I hear or use the term, I am immediately reminded of St. Therese’s saying, “the world is thy ship, not thy home.” Indeed, originally the world was our forever home, God created the world and filled it with everything we needed. The Tree of Life was given to sustain us here and we were commanded to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen 1:28). Yet, through the Passion of Christ that we entered into at out baptism we became a son or daughter of God the Father and the essence of our forever home has changed.

Being sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father, and brothers and sisters of Christ our true home is Heaven. We will never be fulfilled or satisfied on this earth however grand our home is or whether we have hardwood floors or granite countertops. Our thoughts and actions then should conform to this reality. We can reflect on this whenever we pray “Our Father Who art in Heaven”, for Heaven is where God is and where we are destined to be.
 
This reality is brought to mind every time I go to Holy Family Cathedral. Above the main entrance the words are inscribed “Haec Est Domus Domini”—this is the house of the Lord! It reminds me that the Church is my home on earth, the place where God dwells with me. Heaven, then, is the full realization of the Church, the family of God who come together in the Lord’s House—our Heavenly Homeland.
 

“In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you
that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

— John 14:2-4