The words in the bible are timeless, ever fresh, and ever relevant to our lives. For an example, the prophet Hosea wrote the words we are reading today, in our first reading for Mass, between the years of 786-746 B.C. That means that the words we are reading are almost 2,800 years old. Can you even begin to grasp the passage of time since these words were written? And yet, they are as relevant to our lives today, as when they were first written.
The prophet Hosea writes that:
“The more abundant his fruit, the more altars he built: The more productive his land, the more sacred pillars he set up. Their heart is false, not they pay for their guilt; God shall break down their altars and destroy their sacred pillars….The king of Samaria shall disappear, like foam upon the waters. The high places of Aven shall be destroyed …. thorns and thistles shall overgrow their altars.”
You can’t help but compare this to all of the expensive church buildings in our modern times. Our very ornate church buildings do give glory to God though, and are a great aid to uplifting our souls. Beauty and art touch the human heart in ways that words alone can not do. And in ancient times, people couldn’t read, so our stained glass windows, statues and sacred art helped teach the faith visually. Beautiful art was a great aid to sharing the Christian faith with people in the past, and it continues to do so today as well.
However, beautiful buildings and the pious feelings we experience when we are in them, are not the basis of our faith. This is a superficial, surface aspect of experiencing the presence of God. More importantly than the beauty of the church building, is the beauty of the soul. A soul becomes beautiful through the sacraments of the church, through baptism, communion and reconciliation, but that alone also does not suffice if we do not practice what we profess to believe. If we do not serve others without expecting anything in return or have a genuine life of prayer and the development of close and loving relationships with our family and friends, then our faith is still somewhat shallow.
What is more important in the long run? An expensive church building? Or the salvation of souls? The first reading for mass today seems to be warning us to not get too wrapped up in the outward practice of our religion and fail to actually do, what our faith proclaims. Yes, we have the responsibility to maintain many aging, church buildings in order to have a decent place to worship, but the human person should always be more important than a building.
It is unfortunate that many homeless people sleep in the cold winter on the streets outside our church buildings in the city. They come inside and sit in the pews sometimes during the day, but have to leave at night. There are many people who are sick and in prison that have no one to visit them. Christ commanded us to visit the sick and those in prison, but he did not command us to build expensive buildings. He mentioned more than once in the gospels that buildings would come to ruin one day (just like Hosea is warning God’s people 2,800 years ago) and that souls are more important than buildings.
In today’s gospel, Christ illustrates this most profoundly when he summoned his twelve disciples and sent them out into the world, looking for the lost sheep of Israel. They didn’t go build anything, except for the kingdom of God.
People should come before buildings, and that applies equally so to our church buildings and the homes we live in as well. We should pay some attention to what we are spending our time and treasure on. Buildings? Or people?
Daily Mass Readings:
Hosea 10: 1-3, 7-8, 12 / Psalm 105 / Matthew 10: 1-7
