The Hearth of God In Our Hearts, the Church and In the Age to Come

As we look around in nature, we see that there are numerous cases in which things are nested in larger and larger things. When one thing is opened, we find that there is something else inside, or perhaps there are even many things inside. In the case of the pomegranate, for example, when the skin is removed, we begin to uncover the vast numbers of sweet grains within the fruit. Saint Paul tells us that the Church, the Body of Christ, is like that pomegranate. It is one, but it contains within it innumerable individuals. Apart from the whole fruit, each pomegranate grain is just a grain. However, in the unity of the fruit, the individual grain IS pomegranate, for it shares the identity of the whole fruit. In just the same way, a mighty river is composed of innumerable drops of water. Any drop that is separated from the river is only a drop, but in communion with the river, each drop shares the identity of the whole river.

Today, the handbook is telling us that we must act in Mary in order to be in Christ. We must join ourselves to her domestic work. The image that the handbook employs places us in the house of Nazareth, which, through the work of Christ, has become the whole world. Thus, we act in Mary, and, in so doing, are found in Christ.

In the holy house of Nazareth, there are very simple and useful furnishings, with nothing superfluous, but everything is centered and focused on the hearth. It is to the hearth that the family members come for warmth, light and nourishment. Each of us should, through our interior life, make our souls into that holy house. The hearth within is the presence of God. From Him we get warmth, light and nourishment, but not without the ministry of the Mother of God. Yes, she is engaged in her household tasks. Her holy house is the whole world, indeed, but it is also our individual soul. Herein, she is banking the fire for warmth, she is stoking the fire for light, and she is preparing for us the food of Divine Grace. She invites us to assist her in these most holy tasks.

At the same time, even as we know the warmth, light and nourishment of the household of God, we know too that the household is a place of hard work. The very nature of the hearth is to be a place of hospitality. One does not enjoy warmth, light and food without feeling the necessity of inviting others to that same warmth, light and food. The hearth of the Kingdom of God as it burns within us has to be ordered to the salvation of souls. It always has to be an invitation to others. This, of course, opens us to embracing suffering for the sake of others. Will we go out into the highways and hedgerows and bring people to experience the presence of God? At what cost? At the cost of our lives?

St. Paul tells us in his Letter to the Hebrews that "our God is a consuming fire." In this same theme, God appeared to Moses in the burning bush. Then, in the Psalms, we read that "God makes spirits His messengers and flaming fires His ministers." In other words, He fashioned His angels to be, in some wise, like Himself. Then, we see that He wants us too to be like Himself, since He sent on the Holy Apostles "tongues of fire" as tokens of the presence of His All-holy Spirit. All of us rational creatures, when we remain in the presence of God, are bearers of His warmth, light and food. We are equipped to go to others, bringing them to the one hearth of God in our souls, in the Church and in the Kingdom of God.