Home. In both of our readings today, we have the image of home placed before us. In John’s Gospel reading, Christ is praying before his disciples as he knows the hour has arrived when he will be arrested and begin his passion journey leading to his return to the Father in heaven. In our verse from the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul is in Ephesus and knows that his journey on earth is also coming to a close, yet he hopes “I may finish my course.” These are stories of mission that highlight the transitory nature of our earthly home. Like St. Paul, we are fulfilling a mission of one sort or another, either for the transitory things of the world or in the struggle to reach our eternal home. I was recently reading an article penned by Kathryn Butler, a critical care surgeon and homeschool mom who was speaking about our image of home. “Home is a word we brandish casually, its colors weathered, its edges frayed from careless use. Christ offers us, at long last, the promise of an eternal home, eternal peace, and eternal belonging for which we all thirst.” St. Paul said, “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent, we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling.” This earthly sojourn is temporary. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ has promised all believers that one day, just as the father embraced the prodigal son who returned home, our Heavenly Father will rush to us with His arms wide open and welcome us to our eternal home where all things will be new.