Happy feast day! Last week we celebrated the saints in heaven and the saints “almost in heaven.” Today we complete our celebration by honoring the saints on earth—that’s you and I !
The occasion is a feast day that began in the year 324, when the church of St. John Lateran was dedicated. This is the Pope’s home church, the cathedral church of Rome. Over the years, this building was attacked by barbarians, and withstood the devastating effects of earthquakes and fire. It still stands, just like the “building” that it symbolizes still stands despite many attacks and devastations even up to the present day.
Let’s listen to St. Paul talk about us (1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16,17).
“You are God’s building. According to the grace of God given me, like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it…Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
Yes, God’s true building is us—the Body of Christ. Its foundation was laid by the Apostles and prophets, and it is still a work in progress. Each time another Christians is born, that person becomes a new stone fitted into God’s building. This is no ordinary building–one among many. It is the unique temple of God on earth. It is the one place where true worship takes place. Jesus, the great high priest, continues to worship the Father in this holy temple.
In today’s gospel reading, we listen to Jesus talk about himself as God’s temple. After driving out the money changers from God’s temple, he said:
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up…he was speaking about the temple of his Body.”
Jerusalem was the holy city of God, and within it was the one place where the holiness of God dwelt. With the coming of Jesus on earth, he became the true temple of God, the dwelling place of God upon the earth. Within a short time, the Jerusalem temple would be destroyed, but the “Jesus” temple would endure forever. After he died and rose from the dead, the “Jesus” temple continued to live on in the body of believers who bore his name.
In speaking of the new temple of God, God’s building on earth, St. Paul gave warnings:
“But each one must be careful how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ.”
There have been counterfeit churches over the ages that try to mimic the true Church of God. And, even within the Church today, there are counterfeit segments, which have strayed away from the truth of Christ and tried to lay new foundations formed of their own ideas.
“If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.”
We have been trained to avoid the sin of sacrilege, that is, the dishonoring of sacred people, places and objects. Paul tells us of the great sacrilege of trying to destroy God’s temple, “which we are.”
A building block has no rights of its own; it is subject to the plan of the builder. So, we too, are sacred building blocks subject to the master plan of the creator. Do we realize how sacred we are? Do we treat ourselves and fellow members of Christ’s body with the reverence that is their due?
“I have chosen and consecrated this house, that my name may be there forever” (2 Chronicles 7:16).
