Perhaps like no other, Alaska is a place that captivates people in surprising ways. How many people do you know who came up for short-term commitment and have been here ever since? My own mother used to joke that she came up for two weeks…seventy-four years ago! There is something about this place for certain people that just makes them want to stay. I have quipped that so many who come to Alaska are either running to something or running away from something. Regardless, they all find something.
A lot of it, I think, is simply the sense of the place. Oh, it’s not quite what it was. No place ever is. But the mountains are just as high and the land just as vast. A person can find their place here and call it home.
Jesus knew the value that comes with a sense of place. One of the most comforting thoughts for me from this week’s gospel is when Jesus tells the disciples (then and now) that he will go ahead to prepare a place for us in his Father’s house.
There are two ways we can look at this. The first one that may come to mind is that we have a spot reserved for us in the Kingdom upon our death and at the resurrection of the dead at the end of the age. A place in his Father’s house also means we have a place at the table in the heavenly banquet.
But even as we are comforted by this eventuality, we must not forget that we each have a place here and now in the Church and in the world. Believe it or not, where you are right now is where God needs you…right now. Your parish, your neighborhood, your school, your place of work, your circle of friends; this is the place the Christ has prepared for you for the foundation of the world. Your personality, your experiences, your skills, even your weaknesses and failings what he needs you to bring to the present moment for his glory and the building of the Church and the world.
There is great comfort in this also. It means that you have everything you need right now to achieve whatever God is asking of you. It is for this moment at this time in this place that you and only you are here. Christ asks nothing more of you than what you bring to this present situation. Pray that we may all act in concert with his will and each do our little part. We may not know the master plan, but it is comforting to know that the Master has planned it…and we are included.