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Where is your home? Where do you really belong? Is our home in heaven or in the world? St. Eusebius of Vercelli answered that very question throughout his life. He was born in Sardinia at the beginning of the fourth century and became a priest in Rome. He went to Vercelli and was elected bishop by the people. In 354, the pope asked him to request the emperor call another council to settle the issue between Arians and Catholics. The Arians did not accept the Trinity as three Persons in one God even though the Council of Nicaea condemned Arianism in 325. The emperor favored Arianism as Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “For him it was not truth that counted but rather political opportunism: he wanted to exploit religion as the bond of unity for the Empire.” Thus, the emperor exiled Eusebius where he was subjected to persecution. Eusebius was eventually freed and returned to Vercelli where he died peacefully in 371. All the time he preached the truth of the Nicene Creed.
Benedict also wrote: “Just like the Apostles, for whom Jesus prayed at his Last Supper, the Pastors and faithful of the Church ‘are of the world’ (Jn 17: 11), but not ‘in the world’. Therefore, Pastors, Eusebius said, must urge the faithful not to consider the cities of the world as their permanent dwelling place but to seek the future city, the definitive heavenly Jerusalem. This ‘eschatological reserve’ enables Pastors and faithful to preserve the proper scale of values without ever submitting to the fashions of the moment and the unjust claims of the current political power.” Our home is heaven, but we must try to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven here: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven!”*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nuremberg_chronicles_f_128r_4..jpg
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