We live in a world of exiles. So many are torn from their homeland:;family and places becoming a distant memory. We think of the Israelites who ‘ hung up their harps and wept’ in their exile, their hearts broken and torn. Even when we make a move across our own country there is a feeling of loss and disconnection. We leave behind neighbours and communities, before we are able to make new. Our hearts mourn for our modern-day exiles, fleeing to a safer, lonelier place; family killed or left behind, heritage shattered..
In a sense we are all aliens. This world is not the end of our journey. Earth is not our home, we’re just passing through. St Augustine says ‘You made us for Yourselves, Oh, Lord, our heart is restless until in rests in You.’ We are indeed exiles from a long-ago garden and we have not yet reached the Celestial City.