Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome
My oldest son is thoughtful, sincere, and curious, He is a really good kid and has a really big heart and he also has expectations that he chisels in stone. I have taken to calling Iggy the “Man with the plan.” He will get an idea of how something should go in his head and Lord help you if you change it at the last minute. He has three younger siblings now, so you can guess that he is having to learn to hold his expectations a little more loosely. Bad naps, slowly eaten dinners, and all manner of other issues can throw a wrench in just about anything. But we all have to readjust.
In praying with these readings today I had two such readjustments. I first had a beautifully prayerful time reflecting on belonging based on Ephesians 2:19-22. Then I realized that that passage is for tonight’s evening prayer.
Starting from square one, I prayed with today’s second reading from 1 Corinthians. I was drawn strongly to a reflection about our individual dignity as Christians. As I set out to compose that reflection, I found myself first asking a question that made me fully readjust. Take a moment to re-read St. Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians.
Go ahead.
It won’t take long.
It is right here.
I’ll be here all day.
OK.
So, here is the question that nagged at me. When you reread that 1 Corinthians passage, each time St. Paul said “you,” did you read it as singular or plural? I was ready to write about our individual dignity as temples of the Holy Spirit, but then when that question nagged at me I did some rudimentary research and found it argued that St. Paul is using a plural pronoun.
Was your gut reading right or did it need to be readjusted?
What does that readjustment mean for you?
We are a holy people. We are God’s temple. Certainly, I believe in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in individual believers, but when I think of the immensity of the temple, its richness, its beauty, and its fullness, I don’t see all of that contained in me alone. But when we look at the whole, at the katholou, at the catholicity of our faith, we can see that the grandeur of God’s temple is larger than each of us as individuals.
This is why reconciling with one another is so important. This is why so many of our works of mercy, virtues, and fruits are about the interpersonal relationships we have. This is why St. Paul’s warning against destroying the temple is so severe. We are bound together into a holy, worshiping, and loving body in our one communion with Jesus Christ. To work to divide that. To try to take our ball and go home. To advocate for a belief that if I don’t like you I can just be my own temple over here is to attack the very temple of God.
My son will have to learn to live with all the changes of plans his siblings cause just as we learn to live and love each other in Church. For just as my family is one and shares a unity bigger than my son’s expectations, so to the unity that we share is bigger than we can imagine and means we should always be pursuing reconciliation and peace.
- Spencer Hargadon