In a family’s house - paraphrasing Chesterton - there are three doors: the door for welcoming, where the residents, friends and guests enter; the door for service, through which enter the ones that offer care and donation and fill the house with affection, beauty and food; and a third one, through which the mystery enters. This last door is a secret path that connects Heaven and Earth.

 

A window, a terrace from where we watch the stars, a painting, the clothes hanging, a lit stove, or the sacred image on the oratory where we pray. These places turn our minds to Something beyond us. But the third door in general, has barely been used…

 

During the coronavirus pandemic, most of the families live intensely, 24 hours a day in their houses, probably as never before. For some people, it will be a mysterious but beautiful time. For others, it could be almost desperate. That’s why, more than never, we need to open the door to recognize the mystery that there resides, that fascinates us and helps us live these days, using the house, with its corners, objects, smells, cracks of light, as a place that welcomes us, that reveals our utility and at the same time,that open our eyes to the world and to others, needed as we are.