Commentary on the Gospel of
When a physical church is dedicated to God, it becomes the house of God. The church becomes a visible sign of God’s dwelling amidst the people. Every church is also a reminder that each one of us, by virtue of our baptism, is a temple of God and God dwells within us. Thus, we may speak of a correlation between the physical temple and the spiritual temple that our hearts are: How we treat the church is indicative of how consecrated our hearts are to God. Jesus saw the temple becoming a filthy marketplace filled with merchants selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and money changers, instead of being a place of prayer and devotion to God. And, in response to the authorities who challenged him, he responds pointing to himself as “the Temple.”
How are the premises of my heart? Are they filled with many worldly concerns and bargains or are they singularly devoted to God? Ezekiel saw living waters flowing from the temple and nourishing life around it. Do living waters flow from my heart, which is the temple of the Spirit, nurturing life and producing much fruit of the Spirit in the world?
Paulson Veliyannoor, CMF
frpaulson@gmail.com
