Gospel John 2:13-22
Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his Body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.
Homily
Quite recently someone complained to me that the money being spent on restoring and renovating the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception would be better spent helping the poor in the Archdiocese. They also asked me what I thought Jesus would have done. As I reflected on the complaint I remembered that Jesus had a great respect for the temple building and for that reason the event described in the gospel passage for this feast took place. Jesus cleansed the temple of all those who were disrespecting it by their unjust commercial activity. As he chased out the sellers and money changers he told them; “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” What is even more important for us is that Jesus equated the temple with his body. “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his Body.”
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And so we come back to the issue of the amount of money spent on the Restoration of our Holy Place, The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. It would have been cheaper I suppose to build a new Cathedral in another place but what would have reminded us of the presence of God in the midst of our commercial district without the Cathedral standing where it is? If it is to remind us of God however there has to be a certain quality and air about it; an ambience which speaks of the presence of God and reminds us of God present within us. Unfortunately because of the cultural characteristic of our people who do not take maintenance seriously, the air of decay around the building, with trees growing out of the roof, broken panes and statutes, rusted window frames, paints which did not match, our mother church was fast losing its ability to remind us of the presence of God. When a people lose sight of the presence of God, all sorts of ungodliness occur. Is this one of the reasons for the murders, the abuse of children, the corruption which is so pervasive among us? We need as a nation to reclaim the awareness of the presence of God and a restored and beautified Cathedral has the potential do just that. That is why my dear friends and the person who posed the question with which I began, that is why we have to restore the Cathedral, our Mother Church without losing sight of our obligation to the Poor. So as we remember, St. John Lateran, the Mother Church of the city of Rome, the Pope’s Cathedral, let us not forget our own mother Church of this Archdiocese, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. We must restore her so that she reminds us of God’s presence in each one of us and of his presence among his people.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, we thank you for the reminders of your presence amongst us which you give continually give. We thank you especially for our holy places and spaces which remind us that we are temples of your Spirit who dwells within us. Give us a great reverence for these holy places and spaces so that we also learn to reverence the Holy Space par excellence, the human person. And you Mary were the Holy Place before all others because you carried God within you for nine months. Teach us O Mother to reverence the Holy Space that we are because like you we carry God within us. We ask this through the intercession of Jesus whom we carry within us. Amen
