22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
R. God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.
Written by Roch Gernon
When I think of the word ‘poor’, I think of my own poverty and neediness. I think of my need and longing to belong, my need to be provided for, my need to be protected, my need to be cared for, my need to be loved, my need to be seen, my need to be delighted in, my need for rest, my need for security, my need for peace. In my poverty, I recognize that I cannot really provide any of these things for myself - at least in its deepest forms. In order to ‘possess’ these gifts, I must humbly receive them from outside of me - from another. Whether I ask for them from another or the other offers them to me first, I am not able to provide them for myself. I am poor and needy - especially for the things I desire most deeply, such as love and security.
When I’ve pondered on these deeper desires of mine, I’ve recognized that most of these things are designed by God to be received first in the home - from my father, mother, siblings, family members. My need to be cared for, my longing to be seen and delighted in, etc was designed by God to be offered to me first by the family / home I was born into.
This family - this home - is created and called to be an icon, an image, an echo of God’s love for me. Their love for me is meant to point me beyond their limited love to an infinite love - a love and a home that I am ultimately made for and that I can live in forever.
Whether we were born into a loving home or a less than loving home, ultimately we are created for the home of God’s heart and the home of His family - the Church. No matter what my childhood home looked like or my current home looks like, God has reminded me time and time again, that my ultimate home is Him and His Family.
A dear priest friend of mine has often encouraged his parishioners to make God their primary address. This encouragement has profoundly helped in reminding me that God is my first and final home - my first and final love. He is the place that I will always be provided for, that I will always be taken care of, that I will always be seen, that I will always find rest.
Saint Augustine said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” May God be our first and final address - the home in which we dwell and find fulfillment for our every need.
Have you considered the idea of making God your ‘primary address’? Where is your current ‘primary address’? Where is the place or places you reside most throughout your day? Where do you return to again and again? Where do you ‘go home to’? Do you find ourselves in need of a loving home that you can live in forever?
Roch Gernon is Associate Director of the Office of Vocations to Priesthood for the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in Louisiana. He loves grilling out, brewing speciality coffees, and doing life with his wife Rita.
Pray with today’s psalm.