Where is God's presence now? The feast we celebrate today and our Gospel offer two answers.
Catholic churches are God's dwelling place, where Jesus is present sacramentally in the Eucharist. Jesus' body, blood, soul, and divinity are there at every moment! Today we celebrate one of those churches in particular, St. John Lateran, the cathedral church of the diocese of Rome.
Our own bodies are also temples, dwelling places of God. Today we are invited to reflect on these temples.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus drives out the money-changers who are defiling a sacred place. If our bodies are sacred places too, what has taken residence in our hearts that needs to be driven out? Do we allow Jesus, in his holy zeal, to cleanse us by driving out sin?
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" 1 Cor. 3:16
Join me today in prayers of gratitude for our family home with God in Rome, in our local Church and in our own bodies.
For additional reading: Cleansing of the Temple and 1 Corinthians 3:9C-11, 16-17.
