Gaius Plinius Secundus, a Roman philosopher better known as Pliny the Elder once said: “Home is where the heart is.” His point is simple. Home is meant to be a place shared with family and friends wherein we grow to appreciate our own self-worth, come to trust the fact that we are loved and where we are challenged in love to mature. As a physical location, it is also a place of memories- memories of meals shared, conversations spoken over a cup of coffee perhaps in the middle of the night and struggles faced and overcome with patience and love. For all these reasons, every person deserves to have a true home to share with his loved ones.
In light of all this, consider the plight and challenges faced by the millions of people in our world who never had a home or had their homes taken away from them. For example, there are children who are today born into homeless shelters, to join their parents who may have lost their homes due to unemployment, poverty or bad choices in life. Consider those who are refugees fleeing their homes because of war, violence, and persecution of all types, especially religious persecution. These people are forced to leave everything behind to escape being killed in the cross-fire of violence that they did not start. Also, let us ponder the plight of young people who have a physical home to live in but it is a structure that has no love, affection, encouragement or protection for them. For them, such a physical location may be more a prison than a home.
When we consider such suffering, it is our duty and responsibility as Christians to find ever more effective and personal ways to meet the needs of those in our midst who are homeless. They deserve what we often take for granted. Many cannot find a way out of homelessness on their own. Let us be resolved to help whoever wishes to receive our assistance, to find a place where their hearts can find a home.
