June 14, 2015 - Sunday

So we are always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,
for we walk by faith, not by sight.
Yet we are courageous, and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.
Therefore, we aspire to please him, whether we are at home or away. (2 Corinthians 5:6-9 NABRE)

Travelling is exciting, fun, and challenging. When we are away from home we see new things and meet new people. Our comfort zone expands and we broaden our understanding of the world. However, we compare our new surroundings with home and after a while we begin to miss what is familiar.

Now, imagine travelling not on a vacation, but on a diplomatic mission to a foreign country. It is our job to represent our country well while at our post. There are times when their culture and ours may clash and when we will long to return home. Such times call for the courage described by Saint Paul in today's passage.

Always, we are pulled in the direction of home, and eventually, we know will be called back. But for now, in the present moment, we do the things that need to be done in order to get us there. Someday.

In today's passage we see that, "tension between present and future is expressed by another spatial image, the metaphor of the country and its citizens. At present we are like citizens in exile or far away from home. The Lord is the distant homeland, believed in but unseen (2 Cor 5:7)."*


Today, I will remember my homeland and look forward to when I can return there.


Saint Albert Chmielowski, who "In [his] tireless, heroic service on behalf of the marginalized and the poor, ...ultimately found his path. He found Christ. He took upon himself Christ’s yoke and burden; he did not become merely ‘one of those who give alms,’ but became the brother to those he served...,” pray for us.