St. John Lateran
We
are flesh and blood temples of the Holy Spirit. Made for the worship
of God and preaching of the Gospel. Our foundation is Christ Jesus
and his mission to save the world from sin and death. When we are
properly built and maintained, we are mobile tabernacles, bringing
Christ with us wherever we go. Improperly built and/or poorly
maintained, we risk becoming a den for thieves. We risk becoming a
rented space for cheats, liars, cultural prostitutes, and
intellectual frauds. Through the centuries, these spiritual squatters
have changed names and faces, but the scam has always been the same:
use the supernatural appeal of the Good News to prey on the anxieties
and hopes of the least among us. Whether the squatters are promising
material wealth, bureaucratic utopias, or a wide-open gate to heaven,
they are defacing the temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus drove them out
once. He can do so again. But the best defense is a good offense.
Never let them settle in the first place. Build your temple on the
rock solid foundation of the apostolic faith – the unchanging and
unchangeable truths of the Gospel. God's enduring love. The necessity
of repentance of sin. The freely offered mercy of the Father.
Christ's promise to be with us always. Never leave your temple
unattended. Pray always. Keep the tabernacle lamp lit. And guard the
door against anything and anyone who would bring the world's
language, images, and idols to the altar. Receive gifts with humble
thanksgiving and share the temple's wealth generously. Know Christ as
a person not just as an idea or an ideal. Know him as a friend, a
teacher, a brother. Know him most intimately in one another and those
you serve. When a sacrifice is necessary, remember that God receives
our fears, our desires, our lies, and our hopes. He makes them all
holy when we hand them over with child-like faith, trusting fully
that He bring the Good from our mess. Receive His gifts w/o prejudice
for your wants. And use them to keep your temple free of the world's
deadly distractions. Finally, ask yourself daily Paul's question to
the Corinthians: “Do
you not know that you are the temple of God,
and
that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
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