We Are Temples Of Joy

November 9: Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Ezekiel 47:1-2,8-9,12; Psalm 46:2-3,5-6,8-9; 1 Corinthians 3:9-11,16-17; John 2:13-22

Thirty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A:

Wisdom 6:12-16; Psalm 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8; 1Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13

Click here for the complete text of today’s readings.

Thoughts to help us take responsibility as stewards of the kingship of Christ.

(To support  Reaching Jesus: 5 Steps to a Fuller Life ... Step Five )

We Are Temples Of Joy

“Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature shall live” (Ezekiel 47:9).

Psalm 63 reminds us, “My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.” Psalm 46 promises satisfaction: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.”

The river is the water of divine life, grace. It gladdens us who are “the holy habitation,” the “temple of God,” because we are Christ’s Body, and “the Spirit of God dwells in us” (1Corinthians 3). As Jesus rose from the dead, we too “who are alive” by grace will rise to “be always with the Lord” (John 2; 1Thessalonians 4).

Paul says it is important not to be “unaware about those who have fallen asleep,” so that we “may not grieve like those who have no hope.” Like the “wise bridesmaids” in Matthew 25, we need to cultivate wisdom, the habit of seeing everything in the light of the end, the bridegroom who is to come.

This is the key to stewardship. We take responsibility, both for keeping our own lamps lit, and for reacting against anything in our Father’s house that distracts others from the wisdom by which we “await the blessed hope and manifestation” (epiphany, Titus 2:13) of Jesus the Bridegroom. 

The Mass reminds us of this before Communion, which is a preview of the wedding feast.

  

PRAY: “Lord, make me ready when you come!”

PRACTICE: Keep looking ahead. Clean the windshield.