Invitation to get to know each other.

Many ask, “Teacher, where do you live?” they don’t ask because they don’t see the reason. But in every life, there will be situations with painful phenomena.

When I visited houses and apartments in the parish during the Christmas season to bless them, I had the opportunity, if only for a few minutes, to enter the personal zone of many parishioners. Few things give you such a picture of a person as their living situation.

It is not only a question of whether he is surrounded by expensive or inexpensive things, but what he surrounds himself with, whether he likes order, and how the various items in his home are arranged. This is how you get clues as to what is important to the person or family.

At the same time, you don’t just invite anyone into your home. We have many acquaintances and friends, but we meet them at work, at school, on the street or in the shop. At home, we welcome family and close friends. Inviting someone home is, in a sense, a marking out. As long as we “only” meet, we can claim anything about ourselves. In the abode, however, things and surroundings speak about us. It’s where others get to know who we are, what we like, or where our favorite corner is.

If I’m meeting someone and our communication or relationship shouldn’t be formal, I’ll invite them home or accept the invitation. Walking into a stranger’s home is an invitation to get to know each other better.

In a home environment where I feel comfortable, I don’t have to act macho, I can open up more and show who I am. We know this pattern well. Every marriage starts with dating together, then we get to know where the other person lives and their family, and at the end we decide to live our lives together under the same roof.

This rule, so well known in everyday life, is also present in the Gospel. At the beginning of his public appearances, Jesus is only just being recognized by many. So two potential disciples approach him and ask him a question: “Teacher, where do you live?” His direct answer is also an invitation: “Come and see.” Behind Jesus’ words is not a desire to satisfy their curiosity, but to bring them to know him. One can only desire what one knows, at least in part.

We are invited into his “dwelling place” to get to know him better.
When a person desires to know God, he is one of the lucky ones and is on the right path. Those who desire to know the Lord more and open their hearts to Him will be given opportunities for their desire to be gradually fulfilled. Our culture does not help people to mature into such a question, which is why many never even ask it.

To state that we are surrounded by a superficial commercial culture, overwhelmed by platitudes, is carrying wood into the forest. Many of us are aware of this. It’s so easy to drown in the endless entertainment of short videos, never-ending information, and notifications from our messengers.

Many wonder, “Teacher, where do you live?” they don’t ask because they don’t see the point. Inevitably, in every life, a situation will arise in which our existence is confronted with painful phenomena. We are not immune to setbacks, wrongs, frustrations, sickness, or death.

In such a moment, every human being seeks a clue. If he has even a germ of Christian faith in him, he intuitively seeks spirituality with its answers or God directly, to regather the shards of his own life in conversation with him.

It is good that this is so. Jesus’ redemptive mission is for all. God can find an original way for each person during his or her lifetime so that he or she cannot help but notice it. Only if everyone takes courage and has the goodwill to respond.

In any case, we are indeed called to a deeper touch with the transcendent, to open ourselves to the God who transcends us. We are invited into his “dwelling place” to get to know him better. He calls us because we are God’s children for whom he sacrificed himself, and he does not want us to trudge around the world like lonely runners with our limitations, but to find peace of mind and a fixed point, which for human beings is only him. The sooner we understand that, the better.