This week our readings give symbolic and real meaning to the buildings that are churches.

In the first reading 1Corinthians 3:9b-11, 16-17, in his first letter to the Corinthians Paul writes, "You are like a building that belongs to God.  God asked me to begin forming you, and I used all my talent to build a goo foundation for you.  And that foundation is Jesus Christ.  So, really, you are God's temple, and God's Spirit lives in you."

In the Gospel according to John 2:13-22 Jesus drives out the animals, the merchants and the money changers from the temple area exclaiming, "Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace."  And his disciples recalled the words of scripture, "Zeal for your house will consume me."

Obviously our bodies are not building structures in the real sense, but as a dwelling place for the Spirit of God our bodies are temples because they are a place that the spirit dwells. And the actual temple building is referred to as God's house because God's Spirit dwells there as well.  We often admonish our children, and ourselves, to conduct ourselves in a respectful manner, to dress in a respectful manner, when we are in the House of God, the church.  Likewise there are many spiritual instructions on how we should treat ourselves, our bodies, with respect and care because they are temples of the Lord. The church is not a place reserved for people who do not sin either - rather it is a place for sinners, and of sinners.  All of us sin, to one degree or another.  We are not exiled from the church as sinners, but rather welcomed with open arms and heart by Jesus into the body of Chirst so that we made be made new in His love.  

So too the term "church" has a double meaning.  It means the structure in which we congregate to celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper, and it also refers to the PEOPLE who make up the body of the church and who go there to worship.  WE are the church, and Holy Trinity, the building, is the church. 

Jesus referred to himself as the temple - when he told the Jews that if they destroyed this temple he would raise it up again in 3 days.  They thought he was speaking of the temple building, when, in fact, he was speaking of the temple of His body.  After Jesus died on the cross and rose again on the 3rd day his disciples remembered these words and understood and believed.  

Jesus is calling us to have greater respect for the church, and he also wants people to worship in "spirit and truth" (John 4:24) That worship occurs within the temple of HIS body, of which we are all part. For the sake of the temple that is Jesus we value temples or churches made of stone since they sacramentally bring the temple of Jesus into our lives in a material way.

The Psalm this week is Psalm 46: The Waters of the River Gladden the City of God, the Holy Dwelling of the Most High  

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May God bless you this week and give you wisdom to recognize your own body as the temple of God which makes you most holy!