THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

A SERMON FOR THE FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY

When the young heroine of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, clicked her red shoes together and exclaimed that “there’s no place like home,” she was magically transported back to Kansas, where she woke up, as if from a dream, to find herself back home with her kind Auntie Em and all her other old friends and family.  She hadn’t been gone long, but the adventure she had experienced had made it seem like her home was unreachable, far beyond time and space.  Her relief and joy to find herself back on the old Kansas farm was indescribable.

We are all human beings, with the same emotions and nostalgia as Dorothy.  How long is it since we were in the home of our childhood?  How much would we give to be able to click our shoes together and relive just a few minutes of the time we spent there?  We too have undergone the adventure of a lifetime.  In fact, our lifetime has been that adventure, and the past, in particular the memories of ‘home, sweet home’ are nothing but that—memories.  They can be retrieved only in fading photographs and the equally fading pictures in our mind.  But what precious pictures they are!

Home is something far more than the bricks and mortar, the walls and floors of a mere building.  It’s the place where our adventure began, and is filled with all the happy memories of childhood.  The older we get, the more we appreciate what we had within those walls—parents, siblings, security, happiness—people and things, events and emotions, that have faded far into the past and which, perhaps, we can no longer reach.

Home, you see, is not just an idea.  It’s an ideal.  That’s why an unhappy home is just a terrible thing.  The home in which the father is an abusive alcoholic, the woman a bitter, angry nag, the children rebellious, godless, pleasure-seeking and money-hungry—such a home goes against the nature of things as God created them.  An unhappy home leads to an unhappy future and unhappy memories for all those in it.  An unhappy home has no foundation in the natural family life of mother, father and children, each playing his or her role as God intended.  If our memories of our childhood home are mostly unhappy, chances are, we’re not happy now.  We may not be the ones responsible for the unpleasant memories of our past, but let’s not forget, we ARE responsible, at least to some extent, for the future memories of those who live with us in our home today.

To show us what a true and godly home should be like, God has given us today the most perfect example of a home, a home in Nazareth in which the Holy Family lived.

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  We have only to think of this household and the three family members who lived there, to realize how far short of the ideal our own home falls.  It's only by working hard to make our home as close to the ideal of Nazareth as we possibly can, that we can assure the happiness of ourselves and our other family members.  Today’s home is tomorrow’s memories, so we must create good and happy memories now.

If we concentrate for a second on our own contribution to the imperfection of our home, I’m sure we’ll be able to see room for improvement.  It’s easy enough to dwell on the faults and imperfections of our parents, our brothers and sisters, our children; but let’s ask ourselves “What do I do that makes the home a less pleasant place to live in for everyone else?”  What am I like to live with?  I can’t answer this question for you.  Only you know, and I hope you’ll spend a little time thinking about it.  It’s called an Examination of Conscience, and we’re supposed to make one every night before we go to bed.   What is my contribution to the home?  Is home a better place because I live in it?  Or not?  And if not, what must I do to create those good memories of family life, of ‘home, sweet home’?

Sure, living together in close proximity with other people, especially those we didn’t choose, can be difficult sometimes.  We all have our little quirks and imperfections.  But again, what is MY reaction to those quirks and imperfections?  Do I nag, do I rant and rage, do I sulk, do I deliberately provoke others, am I too easily provoked, am I violent or abusive, am I always grumbling and miserable?  

There are so many ways of making things worse, aren’t there?  But let’s remember, there are just as many ways of making them better!  Little acts of kindness go such a long way to creating a peaceful and pleasant home.  Remember the hymn Ubi Caritas—“Where charity and love prevail, there God is ever found.”  Our ideal, let’s not forget, is something even nicer than good old Auntie Em!  The perfect love that flowed in that little house in Nazareth is the answer to all the difficulties of our own home life.  We should always fall back to the example of the Holy Family every time we run into problems at home, and try and apply their mutual love and love for God to our own little issues.  Tolerance of each other’s faults, patience with mood swings, reliance on Divine Providence in times of peril, whether they be physical, emotional, financial or whatever—With the help of the Holy Family we should be able to deal with anything. 

Holy Mary was the perfect mother, a loving comforter, a patient teacher.  She will teach us how to be kind and patient with each other’s faults.  She will comfort and encourage us when we are victims of the unkindness of others.  St. Joseph meanwhile was the perfect protector and provider.  It is to St. Joseph we should address our prayers in times of physical danger or financial difficulty.  And above all, the Christ Child himself, Son of God, model of perfection for us all and source of all good things.  Trust in his Divine Providence, love him in his human childhood, revere him in his almighty Godhood.  And children, make him your example, especially at those times when you think you know better than your parents.  Maybe, just maybe, sometimes you do…  Christ certainly knew better than his parents—he had infinite knowledge and wisdom.  And yet, how did this Child behave towards Mary and Joseph?  As the Gospel tells us today, “he was subject unto them.”

Make your home a place of mutual trust, respect, and love, just like the home of the Holy Family.  Trust in God, love each other as God commands, with mutual respect and, more importantly, respect for God’s laws.  If every member of the family does this, you’ll be guaranteeing for yourselves and each other not only happy memories in this life, but an eternity of happiness in the next.