A New Home

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, March 26th, 2023:
The Fifth Sunday of Lent

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Ezekiel
37.12-14

Thus says the Lord God: “I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people.
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“I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord.

“Home” is a powerful word. In contrast to “house,” “home” elicits integral memories both positive and negative — maybe the sounds of laughter or the smells of baking. I believe we find the word “home” so evocative because the reality that it represents is so essentially important to us. Home is the place we have come from and, as today’s readings remind us, it is also the place to which we are going.

I watched a movie some years ago about a young boy who gets lost and ends up stranded and
poor in a distant land. After years of searching, longing and wondering about his home village,
he locates his place of origin and takes a plane to see what remains there. I remember the tears
and actual weeping that came over me during the movie’s final scene as the boy re-enters his
homeland, feeling the familiarity of each street and building. He finds his family. He is embraced
by his mother and knows that he is home.

In today’s first reading, the Lord speaks of His returning Israel to their homeland, bringing their
feet back onto their own soil. The Israelites had a history of slavery and exile from their homes,
and this nation represents all of us as we seek to live out our call as Christians in a land not fully
our own. At times, we can get so consumed by the temporal world that we can forget that this is
not all there is; this is not our true “home.” In the prayer Hail Holy Queen, we acknowledge
ourselves to be the “banished children of Eve,” living “in exile.”

Ezekiel’s prophecy is a beacon of hope for all who find themselves still trekking on this earthly
pilgrimage. It is especially for those who are in sorrow or pain, maybe wearied by the length and
difficulty of the journey — and isn’t this all of us at different times? The Lord reminds us
through Ezekiel that we will be brought back to our own land to rest eternally in our true home.
Christ, our Redeemer, will remove our sandals, the signs of a fleeing people, and invite us to rest
with Him with a new spirit and a new life and a new home.



Sr. Angela

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