Let me begin with a scene many of us know too well. You finally decide to clean the house not because you are convinced it needs a cleaning but because guests are coming. You clean the drawing room and the dining anyway, Floors shine, kitchen sink is empty, cushions are aligned, tables are clean, everything looks perfect. Then, five minutes before the doorbell rings, you realize the mess hasn’t disappeared; it’s just been pushed into one room. The door is shut. Problem solved, or so we think.
Life Is Not Finished
A friend once told me about finally completing his dream house. Years of saving, planning, arguing over tiles, changing the paint a couple of times and living with dust everywhere. On the day the house was blessed, someone casually asked him, ‘So… are you finally settled?’ He laughed and said, ‘The house is finished, but life isn’t.’ That simple line carries quiet wisdom. Buildings can be completed. Lives never are.
That tension sits beneath today’s first reading. Solomon stands before something magnificent. in front of the most expensive, gold-plated, cedar-scented building in human history, the First Temple. This was not just a construction project; it was meant to be the ultimate ‘forever home’ for a God, who until then had been perfectly content living in a tent.
God Cannot Be Contained
Stone, cedar, gold, symmetry, order. Everything looks finished, impressive, and worthy. And yet, at the very moment when most kings would congratulate themselves, Solomon says something startling: God cannot be contained. Not by walls. Not by beauty. Not even by something built for God. He prays with his hands lifted and palms open, not clenched. Open hands are the posture of someone who knows he is not in charge. And Solomon says, “Even this is not enough.”
We love finishing things. We love closure. We even love neat spiritual checklists. Baptized? Check. Confirmed? Check. Marriage blessed? Check. Prayer said? Check. Blessing done? Check. Church built? Check. And then we quietly assume God should now stay where we placed Him, inside what we built, inside what we planned, inside what we control.
Pouring Out the Whole Ocean
There is a beautiful story from the life of Saint Augustine, and I am sure you have heard of it multiple times. He was walking along the beach, struggling to understand the mystery of God, when he saw a child digging a hole in the sand and running back and forth to the ocean with a seashell, pouring water into it. Augustine asked, “What are you doing?” The child replied, “I’m emptying the whole ocean into this hole.” Augustine laughed and said, “That’s impossible.” The child looked up and said, “It is easier for me to empty the ocean into this hole than for you to fit God into your mind.” Solomon’s prayer is the Old Testament version of that story, that seashell.
Solomon likewise realizes that the new Temple he built is not a cage for God; it is a listening post for humanity. He asks God to “hear from heaven,” acknowledging that while we are grounded in houses, routines, jobs, unsettled relationships and unfinished lives, God is the vastness that surrounds it all.
God Outgrows Heaven
God does not want gold-plated perfection. God wants honest presence. Whether you pray in a magnificent cathedral or over a lukewarm cup of coffee in a messy kitchen, the true temple appears at the moment you stop pretending you are in control.
So let us stop trying to build a perfect container for the Infinite. We are the seashell, and the Ocean is already here. Let us stop worrying about whether our lives are grand enough for God and start marveling that the One who outgrows the heavens and listens to the whispers of a heart in a small room.
- Today’s Readings
- Father Boby's inspirational homily was recorded live during Mass at the Father Peyton Center this morning. You can view the Mass (and the Rosary at the 30-minute mark) on the Family Rosary YouTube page.
- To join the Rosary and Mass Livestream, visit the Family Rosary YouTube or Facebook page at 11:30 a.m. Eastern, Monday – Friday. Consider inviting others to join, too! (*If you are not a member of Facebook and a signup window appears, simply select the X at the top of the pop-up message and continue to the livestream.)
