5th Sunday of Eastertide Making a home with Jesus Home. The word conjures up so much. The place where we can love deeply and be loved; where we can relax; find our joy; enjoy the company of our family; where we belong. It is also the place where we most face our weakness and our pain. Here, we experience how frail our humanity can be. Even in the best relationships, there are times of strain and difficulty, so imagine how painful home can be when relationships are breaking down. In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to make our home in him. He is aware of what a mixed image this is for when he tells us to make our home, he is also talking of our being pruned and our being fruitful. Opening ourselves to a close intimate relationship with Jesus will entail challenge. Intimacy requires a breaking open of part of our self so that it can be transformed into love with the other. Our fear is that we do not know where this will go, especially when God is involved. How true. As the bible says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God! But Jesus also says that he makes his home with us. He did this when he took on our flesh, lived our life and died our death. Having done all this we know that he understands how frail we are. Therefore we know we can trust him with our deepest secrets, the hidden brokenness we can barely admit, even to ourselves. We can invite him to go into the back sheds of our lives, where we have thrown all the things we cannot deal with, and allow him to tenderly clean it out. We may be surprised to find that he brings out something that he turns into a treasure.
Sr Kym Harris OSB |