Homelaned, Space and Hospitality
Homelaned, Space and Hospitality

Summary/Abstract: If the guest is sacred then so is the ground of the homeland. It is only when there is a homeland which extends its hospitalityand not a desert, which is the stomping ground of predators- that a place can be found for a guest. The homeland is sacred, not because many have died and are prepared to die for it. This is merely a consequence of the fact that it is sacred. The homeland is sacred because its foundations consist of a way of living which is woven together from an ethical order which transcends the personal will of those living there. In a short piece by Aristotle which was later taken up again by Heidegger, Heraclitus states that “Gods” even exist at a domestic hearth. Human dwelling places are, in fact, connected to the divine, if for no other reason than that the space which they offer is organised for the good of those who live there, for their true good, the nature of which only God is aware, desires and can bring about. The “Son of mankind” had no place where he could lay down his head, he had no home, he chose to be a stranger, but he loved to accept hospitality, not because of his own need, but those who extended their hospitality to him could have experience true hospitality, an experience of the “Kingdom of God”, of the “Father’s house”, where the good of each of his children is what is wished for and what is put into practice.

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