DOCTRINE AND FAITH
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The theme of the temple of God is
frequent and central in the Bible. This theme deals with the presence of God
among his people and his union with them. The presence of God is also the theme
of today’s gospel reading from the gospel of St. John. The ancient people
thought that the heights were the places where God manifested his presence. The
Samaritans held that God manifested himself in a especial way at Mount Garizim,
while for the Jews, the place of God’s manifestation per excellence was Mount Zion: The Holy mountain, fairest of heights, the
joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, the heights of Zaphon, the city of the great
King (See also Isaiah 2,2). Jesus explains to the Samaritan
woman that God neither adored in a material place, nor is the place of meeting
between God and man a physical space. God cannot be enclosed in a material
space. God is rather met in a spiritual plain; he is met in spirit and truth. To
meet God, therefore, one needs to put oneself in a spiritual plane or mood. The gospel
according to John makes us understand that what is referred to as in spirit and truth, is
nothing other than Jesus Christ, himself. Jesus even affirmed: I am the truth... It is also Jesus who gives
the Spirit and He gives it during His sacrifice. In John 7,39, we have: There is not yet the Holy Spirit because
Jesus has not yet been glorified. Therefore, it is in the
person of the crucified and glorified Christ that we meet God. We are no more
talking simply about the mere presence of God among us but rather our meeting
God in an active way, which is different from how the ancients perceived God’s
meeting with people. In fact in the old times, one needed to approach the
temple of God where God manifested his divine presence. But in our time we meet
God in Christ. Now, the sacrifice of Christ brings about the meeting of God and
man. Now, it is not just a meeting where God manifests his presence to man, but
a meeting where the person is transformed as a result of the encounter.
We are
called to walk towards Jesus but this is not just walking materially or
physically but spiritually, that is to say, trying to be of the same mind and spirit
with Jesus. Jesus is the chosen and precious stone which the builders rejected,
discarded, and as it were, destroyed, but whom God chose. (Here we have the
evocation of the sacrifice and the glorification of Christ). God chose Jesus
because he undertook to suffer out of filial love for God the Father through
his obedience to the Father, and compassionate love for us sinners whom he
redeemed with his blood. To meet God, we have to unite ourselves with Christ in
his sacrifice, thereby become living stones for the construction of the
spiritual temple, where the spiritual offerings are presented and
offered.
In fact, it is the sacrifice that
makes a temple or church what it is and not the other way round. In the Old
Testament, it was thought that it was the temple that constituted an action a
sacrifice. This was shown in the fact that slaughtering an animal outside the
temple was not regarded as sacrifice. But if the slaughtering was done in the
precincts of the temple and accompanied by certain rites, it was automatically
regarded as sacrifice. But for us, what constitutes the temple or church is the
sacrifice of the Mass. The Lateran Basilica is a temple/church, where God and
man encounter each other, because Holy Mass is celebrated there. A
building will not be regarded as a church if Mass is not celebrated there.
Thus, the four walls of a building are not indispensable for any place to be
the house of God where spiritual sacrifices can be offered. What is important
or indispensable for there to be a church/temple is the sacrifice of Mass,
where God and man meet. It is participating in this sacrifice of Christ that
renders us temples of God and at the same time, makes our offerings pleasing to
God. By participating in the Holy Mass we fulfil the advise of Paul to the
Romans: I
urge you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a
living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship (Romans 12,1). 
The sacrifice of Christ is the most
important and central event in the New Testament and it is on it that every
other thing revolves. This Christ event is re-enacted in the Holy Mass
everyday. In the sacrifice of the Mass there is union between God and man; it
is during Mass that the presence of God becomes effective in and among us. It
is never static but a dynamic presence. In the Holy Mass there is movement of
man towards God and God towards man which results in a union that affects all
aspects of our life, transforming our life into spiritual sacrifice and making
us day after day and more and more the house
or temple of God. May we therefore, pray
that through participating in this Eucharistic celebration and
commemoration of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, we may unite ourselves
in an intimate way with Christ so as to become living stones powered by the
Spirit of Christ himself and be enabled thereby to actively contribute in the
construction of the spiritual temple for a dynamic and transformative encounter
between God and man.
I wish you Happy Feast of the
Dedication of Lateran Basilica and Happy Sunday!
+John I. Okoye
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(graphics from blogger)
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