“God is knocking at our doors, seeking a home for His Son – Shall we open the doors to Him?”

(Based on Acts 14:5-18 and Jn 14:21-26 – Monday of the 5th Week in Easter)

God knocks at my door, seeking a home for His son.

“Rent is cheap”, I say.

“I don’t want to rent. I want to buy”, says God.

“I’m not sure I want to sell, but you might come in to look around”.

“I think I will”, says God
“I might let you have a room or two”.

“I like it”, says God, “I’ll take the two. You might decide to give me more some day.

I can wait”, says God

“I’d like to give you more, but it’s a bit difficult. I need some space for me”.

“I know”, says God, “but I’ll wait. I like what I see”.

“I’d like to give you the whole house, but I’m not sure”

“Think on it”, says God. “I wouldn’t put you out.
Your house would be mine and My Son would live in it.
You’d have more space than you’d ever had before”.

“I don’t understand at all”.

“I know”, says God, “but I can’t tell you about that.
You’ll have to discover it for yourself.
That can only happen if you let me have the whole house”.

“A bit risky”, I say.

“Yes”, says God, “but try me”.

“I’m not sure – I’ll let you know”

“I can wait”, says God, “I like what I see”.

• Excerpts from a poem titled “Covenant” by Sr Margaret Halaska

It shows the beautiful dialogue between a soul and God, who desires to dwell in the heart of a person…

The Gospel of the Day presents Jesus throwing light on this beautiful theme of God wishing to make a home in our hearts: “Those who love me, will keep my word, and My Father will love them and we will come and make our home with them” (Jn 14: 23)

The story of the Bible is a God who longs to dwell with His people.

In the Old Testament, we see the Garden of Eden was a beautiful communion of the first parents with God.
The atmosphere was so much homely… so much loving

Sin caused a rupture in this homely bonding between God and human beings.

But the Lord, still longed to dwell with His people…

He accompanied the Israelites in their journey through the desert… being with them as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

He also established His glory among the people of Israel by dwelling in the ark of the covenant.

Every now and then, the people sinned and lost this presence of the Lord

Through the prophets, the Lord would invite the people to come back to His homely presence.

Finally, in the fullness of time, God decided to dwell with humans, when the Eternal Word became flesh…

Jn 1:14, “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us”

To perpetuate His continual presence, Jesus also gave us His Body and Blood, in Real Presence, when He instituted the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper with the culmination of His Sacrifice on the Cross, and His rising from the dead.

This then, is the story of the longing of a God who yearns to dwell with His people.

Jesus re-iterates this constant longing of the Lord, by promising, “Those who love me, will keep my word, and My Father will love them and we will come and make our home with them” (Jn 14: 23)

The Lord wishes to dwell more close to us..
He longs to have a home in our hearts…

Do we make the space for Him?

The Lord promises to come and make His home in our hearts, if we love Him and keep His Word.

Loving Him requires giving Him the highest priority and precedence in our lives

Keeping His Word requires following His teachings and commandments at all times.

Loving Him means to constantly long for Him and to have our thoughts centered on Him

Keeping His Word means to make decisions and choices based on His Gospel virtues

Loving Him means to free our hearts from undue and inordinate attachments

Keeping His Word means to go against our personal choices to preserve His Will and plans

The Acts of the Apostles gives us the account of Paul and Barnabas giving a powerful witness in Lystra…
… and demonstrating the Power of the Lord, Who was given the highest priority in their life! (Acts 14:5-18)

The Lord wants a space in our hearts, to dwell in us…

Maybe, some rooms of our heart has been rented to many unwanted habits…
Maybe, some areas of our lives are occupied by unfit tenants of sin and evil…
Maybe, some quarters of our mind are accommodated with unholy and bad thoughts…

God is knocking at our doors, seeking a home for His Son…

We might feel it’s “a bit risky”…
“Yes”, says God, “but try me… I can wait…

I like what I see!”

God Bless! Live Jesus!

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Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism
THE SACRAMENTS OF SALVATION

Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify.
They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies.
The Father always hears the prayer of his Son’s Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit.
As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.
This is the meaning of the Church’s affirmation that the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: “by the very fact of the action’s being performed”), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all.
It follows that “the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God.”
From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister.
Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.
The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation.
“Sacramental grace” is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. the Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God.

The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Saviour. (CCC #1127-1129)