Being ‘At Home’ with the Bible

When we are grieving or in doubt, we know we can turn to the Bible in trust. When we turn to the Bible, to particular verses, we are in fact making our own personal map of the rooms where we feel at home with God and ourselves. These rooms become home to us. We can visit them as we begin the day or take a quiet break in them in the evening. These verses become places where we take root and grow, like the fruitful tree in the first psalm, ‘whose leaves never fade’.

The Bible and the gospels remind us that we never go home alone! God’s word is an invitation to engage in conversation, whether verbal or silent. Often, this conversation will bring us into the varied company of the people in the Bible stories.

Being at home in God’s word allows us solitude when we need it. It also offers us the interesting company of people who can comfort us when we are disturbed and disturb us when we are too comfortable.

Alan Hilliard, The Sacred Heart Messenger