My friend Peter is active in a tenants' association. 'I live on the sixth floor of a big block of flats,' he explained, 'in a district where there are many large buildings. From my window at night, I can see hundreds of other lighted windows. I imagine that, behind each one of them, there are families-people who, later, will try to sleep in order to recover their energy. I sometimes think of the thousands - no, the millions - of other men who, at that moment, are reaching their homes - or at least reaching what serves them as home. I meditate, with God, on the problem of housing. Is the Lord interested in housing? And, as a Christian, have I other reasons for worrying about it than to be of help to my fellow men?'

A tree needs to be planted in the earth in order to take root, to grow and bear fruit. A man and his family likewise need a home in order to live and to grow.
The more a man is taken away from home by his work or other activities, the more he is internally preoccupied by his many obligations and distracted by outside demands on his rime, then the more he needs a home to which he can withdraw, and where he can relax and rebuild his strength.
A man's house is the primary place where he can find recreation-where he can rest, read, eat, sleep-and where, as a son of God, he can regain his strength through prayer.

What is true for a man is also true for his family. The more a family is scattered by their various daily activities, the more it requires a place to which it can return and in which it can be reunited.
When men and women are obliged to leave their homes for work, for example-society, for better or worse, provides various substitute 'centers': youth centers, for example, or child-care centers. When children become 'problem' or 'maladjusted' or 'delinquent' because of the absence of their parents, society tries to repair the damage by means of such centers. Advanced as such centers may be, there is nothing new in the idea behind them. They aim at nothing more than the establishment of artificial families, by such means as grouping together the children from one district or one building.
The Lord has said that man should not pull asunder what God has joined together. But what has God joined together? Husband and wife, of course. But also the entire family unit: father, mother, children, ali are bound together in love and by love and are thus a living reflection of the Trinity.
The most noble aspect of the human vocation is to be, with God, a creator; and it is in his home, in the midst of his family, that a man fulfils that vocation. In exercising that responsibility, with love, he corresponds most closely to the image of God.

In this sense, every home is a temple:
a temple for the sons of God,
a temple for the members of the family who are images of the Trinity.

A man who says 'I love God' because he contributes to the building of a church, and yet is not at least concerned with housing problems, is either a fool or a liar. No gift, no matter how generous and legitimate it may be, made for the service of God or of the Christian community, can free a Christian of his obligation also to serve his fellow man.
It is a grave error, if not a sin, for a man to allow or encourage luxury in the churches and in the houses of God' s children so long as there are millions of men who have no worthy place to lay their heads. When a Christian speaks of glorifying God, he must mean, first of all, preserving the dignity of God' s children. Therefore, what a man has over and beyond his needs does not belong to him but to his brothers.
Since the essential function of a home is to allow a man to rest and to allow a family to create and to grow in love, anything which facilitates that function is in conformity with what God asks of us:
A home for every family (the family being the basic unit of mankind); a common room where the family may meet together; sufficient comfort for the body to free the mind; sufficient privacy (sound-insulation, for example) to allow a man to think, and other such things in line with human needs and human dignity.
It is up to man to develop the necessary technology for these things. It is up to the Christian to guide that development in the light of faith; for faith alone gives meaning to any human enterprise.
Such an undertaking is the work of many men: the architect who designs buildings; the institute of standards which determines the strength of materials; the contractors, masons, carpenters and plumbers; the statesmen who work out the problems of housing, the legislators who allocate funds for building, and the tenants' associations which work to establish and defend their rights. They, and many more, alI work, each in his proper place, at an undertaking which is far beyond their own means. For they are not only building houses for men; they are building temples for the children of God.

Lord, you've told us that when we give shelter to a man,
we give shelter to you.
It' s very disturbing when you identify everyone with yourself.
It' s not practical, because then we can' t get away from you,
and we find you everywhere in our lives.
Even when we give to your Church you don' t dispense us
from providing you with a decent home.
You tell us instead that we must do the same
for those with whom you identify yourself:
'I was without shelter . . .' you said.

Father, help us so that your children
no llonger have to be born in stables or caves.
Help us so that they may grow and develop,
physically, intellectually and spiritually,
as you wish them to.
Help us so that your great Human Body may take shape.
Help Us to build houses for men.
Help me personally to take part in this work,
even if it is only to contribute a word to a discussion,
or to put a ballot into a box,
or perhaps to do even more, if you wish it,
so that, henceforth, there will be room for all your children
in the inns of the world.