For millions of people, Christmas is a time of coming home for Christmas. Our parishes this Christmas will be filled with many people who have come home for Christmas to be with their families and loved ones. Yet, the experience of ‘Coming Home for Christmas’ also has an important spiritual symbolism. It is the time to come home to God, to be reconciled to Him and others and yes, to come home to the family of the Church. In the Gospels, the father of the prodigal son and his resentful brother, wants both his sons to come back home, to re-enter his house and celebrate with him. Jesus also reminds us that in God’s house, there are many rooms, meaning that in God’s loving heart, there is a place reserved for all of us. For Christ, home is the place of belonging, of safety, of rest, of loving union with God and communion with loved ones. That’s why he asks us to ‘Make your home in me as I make my home in you’ (John 14:23). So come home for Christmas this year. Come back into the house where the fire of God’s love never goes cold. For there is no place like home.
Fr Billy Swan