They say that, "Home is where the Heart is". That's probably true. But home is a lot more than just that. Home is where you can take your shoes off anytime that you want, no matter what your feet smell like. Home is where you can set your glass down without a coaster, because you've seen your Dad do it a million times. Home is where you can have breakfast in your underwear if you want to, and nobody says anything about it. Home is where you can drink the milk in your cereal bowl right out of the bowl, and not have to worry about what anybody thinks. Don't you love to do that? I will never forget the first time that I remember my mom telling my brothers and myself that we weren't supposed to drink the milk out of the cereal bowl. It's like, where did that one come from? Who knew? My cousins were coming to visit for an extended period of time, and we weren't supposed to do that in front of them. My brother, John, asked the logical question: "Well, what are you supposed to do with it?" My mom said that we were to use a spoon and eat it like soup. But, I said, "It's not soup. It's milk. After you've eaten all the cereal, there's nothing left to pick up with a spoon. There's only milk. You drink milk. It didn't make any sense. And we were at home. They were the ones visiting. What about that "When in Rome." rule? But oh no, the Haines boys had to learn some manners. So you know what we did? We just waited until our cousins were done eating and had left the table, and then we gulped our milk down right out of the bowl. It's good to be at home. Just go away for a little while. You can go to the best places on earth, and it's still good to come home.

Home is very much the theme of all of our readings today. In our Gospel Jesus is getting ready to go home to His Father. And He says, that if we love Him and obey the Commandments, that He and His Father will come to us and will make a home, a dwelling, inside of us. God will be with us. And Jesus is not talking about when we get to Heaven. Jesus is talking about right now. We need God with us now. When we get to Heaven, if we get to Heaven, we're going to be with God in that wonderful place that He has prepared for us. Our second reading from the Book of Revelation describes this for us. Oh, it's going to be good. It's going to be better than King's Island, Walt Disney World, and Cedar Point, all rolled into one! But Jesus offers us a little bit of Heaven right now. We can have God with us all the time. All we have to do is keep His Commandments and be His people.

You see, Heaven is NOT supposed to be this oddly unfamiliar place when we get there. It is supposed to be home perfected. It is supposed to be the very best parts of home - all of the love, all of the acceptance, all the "Hey, I'm used to this" - that we have ever known. Heaven is the ultimate encounter with God. And yet, how are we going to know that, if we never "encounter" Him now in this life? This is why we need to obey the Commandments now. This is why we need to go to the Sacraments now. This is why we need to pray, and to serve, and to love NOW. There aren't going to be any strangers in Heaven. Because if you are a stranger, they aren't going to let you in. It's going to be one BIG, awesome gathering of brothers and sisters. It'll be like a family reunion in the best sense of that notion. Heaven is going to be like a family reunion that never ends. O.K. - I just scared half of the church out of going to Heaven. No, you've got to know what I mean. Everybody will be at home. Everybody will have their shoes off. Everybody will be slurping out of cereal bowls! It's going to be good.

How different would our lives be if we started out each day with an image of Jesus coming to us and making His home inside of us. It would make a big difference in the way in which we think and act, in the way that we feel about ourselves and how we respond to the people around us. If we remembered every day that Jesus didn't leave us orphaned, but adopts us all into the family of God, then maybe we would consider ourselves worthy and beautiful children of God. If we could just see how Christ knocks on the door to our hearts and begs to be intimately involved in our lives, then we would be more aware of the path that Jesus wants to walk with us in the world. If we would pause occasionally and consider that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Living God is alive and living inside of us, then maybe we would open ourselves up more and more to discernment of the Holy Spirit in our lives. At that point, God would have a home inside of us. It would flourish and overflow with peace and love for other children of God. Don't you see, this all works together. And it works so well, if only we would let it.

Jesus promises that "We will come and make our home with YOU!" May that coming continue today. May we let Him in!

God bless us on this Sixth Sunday of Easter, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. AMEN!!!

St. Maria Goretti … Pray for us!!!