I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS

            St. Mary’s Catholic Parish in Fresno gathered for a retreat last March 7-8. Participated by an ample representation from the parish population, the lively group capped their second day of retreat with a visit to the site where the future church edifice will be built. As they stood solemnly at the edge of a vast field surrounded by neatly tended vineyards, the retreatants, led by their very dedicated pastor, Msgr. Patrick McCormick, humbly prayed that the effort of St. Mary’s Parish “to unite all with Christ and the community” may be blessed. They invoked God to make of them a holy people, “a temple of God built of living stones, where the Father is worshipped in spirit and truth”. They prayed, moreover, that the church building of St. Mary’s Parish that will rise on that site might truly be an expression of their love as a community built on Christ, the cornerstone. Indeed, the concern of St. Mary’s Catholic Parish to strengthen the community’s sense of Church before embarking on the construction of the church edifice is founded on the principle that Christ is the true temple of God. 

            The basic principle concerning the true notion of a “temple” is strongly enunciated in the Gospel of John. In today’s Gospel reading about the cleansing of the Jerusalem temple by Jesus, the evangelist John presents “the temple of Christ’s body” as the true temple. The episode of the purification of the temple of Jerusalem probably occurred toward the end of Jesus’ life, as the synoptic writers Matthew, Mark and Luke have indicated, serving as a final straw leading to his condemnation. According to the biblical scholar, Neal Flanagan: “John may well have transferred the story to this initial phase in Jesus’ life because it fits so well into his ‘newness’ theme and because he intends that Lazarus’ resurrection be the incident leading to the crucifixion.” Indeed, the coming of the Messiah to cleanse the temple would fulfill the expectation of the people for a “new temple” coming down from heaven, on the day when God would definitely reside among his people. 

The cleansing of the temple is a prophetic action that serves as a sign of the coming of the messianic times. In the Bible, the temple is a sign of God’s saving presence among his people. Therefore, when the evangelist John was depicting Jesus as vigorously driving out the merchants from the temple area, spilling the coins of the money changers and overturning their tables, and denouncing the dove vendors for making his Father’s house a marketplace, he was communicating the reality that the era of the “new temple” has come. The leaders of the Jerusalem temple, however, missed the symbolic value of Jesus’ action-sign. The disciples of Jesus, instead, who were receptive to the meaning of his prophetic action, understood the cleansing of the temple in the light of Psalm 69:10: “Zeal for your house consumes me” and Zech 14:21: “On that day there shall no longer be any merchant in the house of the Lord of hosts.” 

In response to the defiant remark of the Jewish authorities, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus made a startling statement: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jewish leaders, who misunderstood the enigmatic revelation of Jesus’ statement, presumed that he was uttering a violent threat against the magnificent Jerusalem temple that Herod had begun in ca. 20 B.C and had been in construction for forty-six years. Taken literally, Jesus’ saying was absurd. But the evangelist John clarified for the readers the symbolic value of Jesus’ saying: the new temple will be Christ’s resurrected body. Jesus was speaking about “the temple of his body,” and when he would be raised from the dead, his disciples would remember that he said this. They would come to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken. Indeed, the major sign that justified Jesus’ actions and gave authority to his words was his resurrection. It is the ultimate sign that revealed that he was truly the Son of God. The sign of the body of Christ, as the true temple, would demand an unmitigated response of trust, faith, and commitment from every Christian who has become a part of God’s temple. 

            According to St. Augustine, “Real belief in Christ means love of Christ … All who believe in this way are like the living stones which go to build God’s temple, and like the rot-free timber used in the framework of the ark which the flood waters could not submerge. It is in this temple, that is, in ourselves, that prayer is addressed to God and heard by him … The temple of God, this body of Christ, this assembly of believers, has but one voice, and sings the psalms as though it were but one person. If we wish, it is our voice; if we wish, we may listen to the singer with our ears and ourselves sing in our hearts. But if we choose not to do so it will mean that we are like buyers and sellers, preoccupied with our own interests.” 

II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART 

A.     The Gospel of this Sunday invites us to reflect on what pollutes God’s houses of prayer and the temples of human bodies today. Does illegal trafficking take place in the name of religion? Do people proclaim the word in order to make money? Are ill-gotten goods and wealth offered to God? 

B.     Are we receptive to the “signs” that Jesus continually works for God’s temple, the Church? Do we believe that Christ abides with us and continues to live on in the Church?

C.     How do we show respect and reverence to the “living stones” that comprise the new temple of God?

III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD

(Cf. Days of the Lord, The Liturgical Year, vol. 2, Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1993, p. 144) 

Leader: God prepared for himself a dwelling among humans; he has set the stone and lighted the fire. Today, he multiplies the bread and joins our hands together: now our hearts are but one.

Assembly: God is with us, God in us, we are the body of Christ! 

Leader: Here is the Promised Land where the human assembly knows the love of God. Here is the festive space where the human family gives a face to God.

Assembly: God is with us, God in us, we are the body of Christ! 

Leader: Here is the house of peace where those who share receive the gift of God. Here is the open temple where those who adore become witnesses of God.

Assembly: God is with us, God in us, we are the body of Christ! 

IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD

            The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it. 

            “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” (Jn 2:19) 

V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION 

1. ACTION PLAN: Read chapter 1 of the NCBB document, “BUILT OF LIVING STONES: Art, Architecture and Worship” and thank the Lord for the living Church, the community of believers and see the importance of the church building in relation to the living Church.

2. ACTION PLAN: Contribute some of your time and resources for the upkeep of your parish church.