It takes a long time to make a house into a home.”
Wise words from Grandma Collette Groebner to a young bride
It began with a stirring in my heart while reading The Minnesota Catholic. A longing for a home filled with beauty, joy, and love. Joseph Safki of SJ Carpentry described how the construction of houses had shifted from beauty to function, and he urged people to return to prioritizing beauty again. Why? Because important things happen in our homes.
“The care and beauty we bring into our homes reflect the importance of what happens within them.” (Joseph Safki | The Minnesota Catholic | November 2025 | p. 5)
My thoughts immediately moved to the Holy Family. Mary and Joseph must have experienced some sense of the eternal importance of their home as they raised the long-awaited Messiah. It’s no small thing – the existence of home – even for those of us much less pious. Homes shape lives and futures, and thus they influence the world’s history.
The word “home” is often used somewhat flippantly.
Honey, I’m home!
Mom, I’m home!
I’m gonna run away from home.
I’ll be home for Christmas. You can count on me.
Home is where your heart is.
Home is where your dog is.
There’s no place like home.
Home sweet home
Perhaps we understand home best when we no longer have it. Consider a college student living under another roof for the first time, experiencing the bewilderment of taking care of oneself without the comfort and familiarity of home. Be mindful of the plight of refugees who, seeking safety, flee home and homeland. Remember those whose homes are destroyed by flooding, hurricanes, and wildfires. Jordan Heber lives in Santa Monica, California. Heber, a watercolor artist, painted pictures pro bono of homes destroyed in the 2025 Palisades Fires. She helped restore memories and hope.
Our homes are so much more than these physical, standing things that we keep our belongings in.”
Jordan Heber, Reader’s Digest | December 2025/January | p. 12
Thank heaven our lives are typically made of ordinary days, filled with routines and relationships. Our hearts long for the love that fills a healthy home. We long for the safety of being seen, accepted, and loved unconditionally. Sometimes love makes us do crazy things. Hoping to stay ahead of a recent snowstorm, my son drove in the rain, in the dark. Away from home. Away from me. My son drove 500 miles through the night to see his fiancée. She is his new home.
Often in the quiet nighttime hours, I gaze at the nativity scene placed on my fireplace mantel during Advent. I talk with our Blessed Mother. Did fear run through her heart as she and Joseph tried to find room in the inn? What was it like for the Holy Family to run from Herod, crazed with jealousy at the thought of a newborn king, a tiny baby who could one day usurp his power? Yet through it all, Mary and Joseph created a home of safety and holiness in which to raise Immanuel, “God with us.”
Christmas cards give the impression that we can attain heavenly tranquility. None portray the Holy Family leaving at night to flee to Egypt. At no other time of year (after all, it is “the most wonderful time of the year”) do we desire our homes to be filled with beauty and joy as much as at Christmastime. We are not just preparing our homes for December 25th. We are preparing to see the face of God.
Recently, I met my coworker at the door on the way to work. She dropped a bit of surprising news, “We bought a new house last night!” The new owners hoped to close and move within two weeks. What a whirlwind of activity! We watched our coworker’s excitement and exhaustion as she and her family scrambled to vacate one house and settle into the next. She and her husband have dreams of renovation. Slowly and surely, they will experience the beauty and joy of making their new house into a home.
Dunrovin aspires to be a “home away from home” for each person who comes here. Our home, like any other, needs lots of repairs/updates, but God’s creation seeps through the cracks, and His sunshine penetrates the windows. We hope that the kindness of our staff will create “God with us” moments for our valued guests.
