Growing up, there is this popular hymn that is based on this particular passage of the Gospel (John 14:2): “In my Father’s house…” The hymn goes like this:

In my Father’s house, there are many mansions there,

In my Father’s house (twice)

In my Father’s house, there are many mansions there,

In my Father’s house above.

Happy, happy, happy we shall be (trice)

In my Father’s house above.

Now this is a very exciting song, but the little trouble I have with the song is the exclusive reference of the Father’s house as the one ‘above’. This is purely transcendent and, if you like, eschatological. The problem here is that the Father’s house is not in any way identified with this world, not even with the Church, which is supposed to be the house of the Father (cf. Jn. 19:46; Matt.21:13). If we understand the earth as belonging to God, our disposition and mentality shifts a bit, and then we would become conscious of treating it and living in it as the Father’s house as well, and not wait to dwell as God’s children only when we must have transited to the the afterlife in heaven. This consciousness would mean that we don’t abuse the world and the beauty that inhabits it – humanity, environment, which we can break down into further details.

One way to live in this world as a part of the Father’s house, where we have our rooms, is to work in making it habitable for all. It is to work in serving God and humanity, in making people see the presence of God in the world, feel God’s love, God’s touch, God’s healing, compassion, mercy and grace in and all around them. Being called to be a Christian, gives us this special privilege to work in the many rooms of the God we believe in, in transforming the world. It means collaborating with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit that vivifies us in renewing the face of the earth. For no matter what the enemy has made of the world, the world, this world still belongs to God!