Half a year ago, on the feast of the Holy Family, I mentioned that many of us could say that it was much easier for the Holy Family to live the holy life because God Himself was present in their home, and that He radiated His wisdom and grace to them. Although I admitted such an argument is fair, I invited everyone to look at this from a different perspective. I asked why it wouldn’t work in our family if it had worked in the Holy Family? I presented a simple solution: why not invite God into our homes, marriages and families, too? May He live in our home as He lived with the Holy Family in Egypt and Nazareth. May he be present in our family life, in our decision making, our journeys and vacations, in spending our time and money or in raising our children. May He be with us in our sickness, in our sufferings, struggles, in our joys and family gatherings. I also wondered if failures in our marriages, families and relations with other people happened exactly because God was not invited and not welcomed. In January, in a Sunday Gospel we heard about Jesus and his mother being invited to a wedding in Cana. Jesus did not yet reveal himself as the Messiah and Savior, so he was invited as a friend of the wedding couple. There he performed his first sign, but no one noticed this sign, only the disciples of Jesus and they “began to believe in him”. We are in a much better situation. We know who he is, and we can invite him into our homes. In today’s Gospel we heard about Jesus being invited to the house of Martha and Mary. These stories testify that Jesus was very willing to accept the invitation to attend someone’s home – he obviously was not a loner. Let’s ask ourselves then: how can we invite God into our homes and what does it mean to invite Him into our homes?

Let’s try to answer these questions. We invite into our home a variety of people: close family members, extended family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers, people we know from church, an organization, a club, etc. All of them are welcomed and are served with attention. However, only with the people who are close to us – usually family members and friends – we are fully comfortable, especially when we share the same sets of interests and values. We know them very well, we know their convictions, what they do, what they did, what they think. This closeness, however, could only be created by frequent interactions and conversations with them.

1. The same is with Jesus. In order to regard Him as a very welcome guest, and friend, a person we feel comfortable and close to, first we have to find out who He really is. Because we cannot see Him, the only way is to listen to Him. His words are in the Holy Scripture, in the teaching of the Church, and in the liturgy. So, we are called to read privately or listen carefully during the liturgy of the Word (that also includes homily), and listen to and participate in the prayers of the Mass. Another source of knowledge about God is the material world which is pointing out its Creator.
2. Knowing our Guest is a necessary condition of being familiar with Him, but it is not sufficient for this extraordinary Guest. Something else is needed when your guest is God. We are also called to shape our life on what He is saying and to follow His teaching in our daily life, in joys and sorrows, in finding true values and, above all, in our decision making. The knowledge of God and what He values will give us the ability to discover what is really valuable and how we should act in concrete situations. This is what Jesus meant when he said that “not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21). Fulfilling God’s won’t necessarily demand big things from us. It could even be a simple prayer before a meal or resisting telling lies or persistence in looking for the truth.
3. Jesus never comes to our home with empty hands. Inviting Jesus into our home allows him to bring us gifts which he offers as a Guest. He offers us His inspiration and support. He strengthens us in our vocation and sustains us in our life. Ultimately, Jesus gives us joy and happiness. Although this joy and happiness cannot be complete now, on earth, since the fullness of this will be in the future life, nevertheless, this earthly joy and happiness could be real. Let’s remind ourselves of the story of Zacchaeus of Jericho. Zacchaeus invited Jesus to his house (actually, it was Jesus who invited himself into Zacchaeus’ house). Zacchaeus received Jesus “with joy” and during the dinner said to the Lord: “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” Jesus reacted to this: “today salvation has come to this house”. This story shows how inviting Jesus into one’s life, into one’s house, powerfully changes one’s life and helps us to follow God’s teaching.
4. The presence of such a Guest will necessarily call for some other thing – praise. Yes, finding who He really is, what He offers us, and how He supports us should instinctively and naturally lead us to this element. God has to be praised and should be praised as no one else on earth. So, a song of worship and praise should always sound in our house and in us. St. Paul the Apostle exhorts us: “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus” (1Tes 5:16-18).

We can easily join Mary and Joseph in living the presence of Jesus, our Savior. Let us just invite Jesus into our home, into our family, into our life.

Fr. Mark Jurzyk