Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to the Blessed Sacrament Homilies podcast where our mission is to help everyone recognize and experience the presence of God. We hope you are nourished and encouraged by the Word. Thank you for joining us.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: The Lord be with you and with your spirit. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Glory to you, O Lord.
[00:00:33] Speaker C: Jesus said to his disciples, do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God.
Have faith also in Me.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back
[00:00:56] Speaker C: again and take you to myself, so that where I am, you also may be where I am going.
You know the way.
Thomas said to him, master, we do not know where you are going.
How can we know the way?
Jesus said to him, I am the way and, and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you know me, then you will also know my Father from now on. You do know him and have seen Him.
Philip said to him, master, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.
Jesus said to him, have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me? Philip, whoever has seen me has seen my Father.
How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
The words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own.
The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe because of the works themselves.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: Amen. Amen.
[00:02:23] Speaker C: I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do and will do greater ones than
[00:02:31] Speaker B: these because I am going to the Father.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. One of the hardest questions that I get asked regularly is, father, where are you from?
I think most people expect me to say, well, I was hatched.
But it is a hard question for me to answer because I typically say northern Macomb County, Shelby Township area.
The reason why I say that is from kindergarten through high school, that's where I lived.
But in reality I haven't lived there since I was 17 and 43 years is a long time to be away from somewhere and still think it's your home.
But part I think why I find that to be the place. I answer is because when I dream about being home, that's the house I remember that still comes up in my dreams several times a year. Oh, yeah, I remember my bedroom there and all the rest of it, that stuff. And I think that's fairly common for most of us. The place where we grew up, where we were formed, tends to be the one that sticks in our head.
But when I'm really honest with myself, I remember that time freshman year of college, the first time I came home.
And that was Christmas break, middle of December.
And I had classes that last day, so I drove back and it was dark.
And by that time, right after I graduated from high school, my parents moved to Caseville.
And so that was kind of home base through college.
And as I was pulling into Caseville on a late night in December, something I suggest you all do, because you could literally shoot a cannon through that town in December and not hit anything. It's just dead after 10:00 clock at night.
And I was lamenting the fact that I wasn't going to my home, that place down in Shelby Township, it was not going to be the same.
[00:04:44] Speaker C: Well, I quickly found out that I
[00:04:47] Speaker B: couldn't be more wrong.
I walked in the door and was greeted by the same love I got from my parents that other house with the same big hug from my mom and the same consistent questions I got from my dad. How's your car running? Do you need an oil change? Are you out of washer fluid? All those kind of things that dads would say.
And the smell that was there because mom knew I was going to be late, she made dinner late.
And it was one of those meals I enjoyed so much. In fact, my mouth's water now just thinking about it.
And I realized where I'm from has nothing to do with a building or even a location.
Well, here in the Gospel, we have Jesus telling us that he's going to
[00:05:41] Speaker C: prepare a place for us.
[00:05:44] Speaker B: And where he is going, we know the way.
And the truth of that is not really any different than my experience going back to my folks that freshman year of college.
I think it is a place that will be utterly familiar to us.
One where we feel a perfect love and one where we absolutely, positively know that we are home.
There are all kinds of speculations out there and books you can read about what's going to happen to us after we die.
And it's all just speculation.
None of us have a clue.
But for these hints we get from Scripture that there's been a place prepared for each one of us and that we know will be home.
