Saturday 9th November
2019. Bible Study: Ezekiel 47:1-12, Psalm 46:2-9, 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17
& John 2:13-22.
_“He spoke
of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his
disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and
the word which Jesus had spoken. *(John 2:21-22)*_
Today, we
celebrate the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica which is one of
the great churches in Rome. Our celebration today affords us the opportunity to
reflect on the meaning of “Dedication” and its impact on our relationship with
God.
To say a
building or any object at all is dedicated to God is to say such can never be
used for any other purpose other than for God. This is because, by the act of
dedication, the presence of God has been invoked upon such.
A
dedicated Church building is not any building, it is a place to meet God, a
place to pray, a place of security and peace. Walking into a dedicated Church fully
conscious of God’s presence is like stepping into heaven. The beauty of a
dedicated evokes the heart to prayer and deepens the faith of the believer.
Using
figurative language, Ezekiel describes the house of God as place from which
flows grace, power, life, health and wealth like a river. Ezekiel says:
“Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall
live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea
shall be made fresh. Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall
grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail. Every month they shall
bear fresh fruit, for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.
Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.”
The point here
is that there is a whole world of difference between a church building and a Dedicated
Church. The fact that people are gathering in a place and they call it a church
does not make it God’s House. This clarification is important given that we live
in an age where charlatans and satanic agents have hijacked the concept of
church for personal monetary gains and to simply destroy the faith.
In today’s
Gospel passage, we hear Jesus say: “you shall not make my Father’s house a
house of trade.” Sadly, this evil continues in our churches today. In the name
of fund-raising, harvest donation and launching, we forget that we are in God’s
house. Right inside the church, we sell cooked food, anointing oils, blessed
water etc. Not only do we desecrate God’s house by trade, we sell these items outrageously
beyond their real market prices. We are
worse than those Jesus drove of the Temple.
Of course,
we need money to build more churches and we need money to maintain them but we
commit sin when we commercialize God; it is one thing to appeal for funds and
respect people’s decision not to give but it is evil to say that they can buy
healing power, business success, family breakthrough and so on through these items
sold in church.
The Jews
demanded a sign from God to prove that His action of cleansing of the Temple is
correct. Jesus used the occasion to draw their attention to the fact that our
very bodies are temples where God dwells by saying: “Destroy this temple, and
in three days I will raise it up.” This is exactly the point St. Paul emphasizes
in today’s second reading: “You are God’s building… For God’s temple is holy,
and that temple you are.” Just as we need to avoid desecrating the physical
building where God dwells, we must strive daily to keep ourselves free from sin,
impure thoughts, lust, greed and every other vice which corrupts us.
Let us
pray: Lord Jesus, deepen my respect for your temple. Amen.
Be Happy.
Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Feast of the
Dedication of Lateran Basilica. Bible Study: Ezekiel 47:1-12, Psalm 46:2-9, 1
Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17, John 2:13-22).
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