The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to examine the compartments in which we try to bound our relationship with God to exercise control over our self serving priorities.
Consider Tradition
The reading from the First Book of Kings is Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication of the Temple.
* [8:1–66] The account of the Temple’s dedication ceremony is organized concentrically: Solomon gathers the assembly (vv. 1–13), blesses it (vv. 14–21), utters a long dedicatory prayer (vv. 22–53), blesses the assembly again (vv. 54–61), and dismisses it (vv. 62–66). To this account is appended an appearance of the Lord to Solomon (9:2–9) that balances the divine word to Solomon in the account of the Temple’s construction (6:11–13).1
Psalm 84 praises the joy of Worship in the Temple.
* [Psalm 84] Israelites celebrated three pilgrimage feasts in Jerusalem annually. The Psalm expresses the sentiments of the pilgrims eager to enjoy the divine presence. * [84:4] The desire of a restless bird for a secure home is an image of the desire of a pilgrim for the secure house of God, cf. Ps 42:2–3, where the image for the desire of the pilgrim is the thirst of the deer for water.2
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus examines the tradition of the elders.
* [7:5] Tradition of the elders: the body of detailed, unwritten, human laws regarded by the scribes and Pharisees to have the same binding force as that of the Mosaic law; cf. Gal 1:14. * [7:11] Qorban: a formula for a gift to God, dedicating the offering to the temple, so that the giver might continue to use it for himself but not give it to others, even needy parents.3
Sr. Candice Tucci, OSF, urges us to go deep into the holy place of our hearts where Christ dwells. And invites us to gather before the Eucharist, and the altar where we are nourished and share in the Body of Christ. As Solomon built a dwelling place for God, let us continue to build up the Body of Christ by caring for one another, and when we come together in prayer and worship.
May we remember that each of us is a holy place. For where Christ dwells, not only are we, but the place where we stand is holy. Wherever we are, is holy. Knowing this, how can we rid our world of violence and dishonest behaviors that ultimately is desecrating the Body of Christ? So again, Where does God dwell for you? Where are your holy places? Where do you meet God? In addition, Why? What do you seek? What do you desire? How can I/we confront the violence within myself as well as outside? I invite you to take a moment and listen to this song of prayer, Dwelling Place, by John Foley, SJ.
May Christ find a dwelling place of faith in our hearts
and may our lives be rooted in love.4
Don Schwager quotes “Mammon refuses to provide for parents in old age,” by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD).
"Christ says, 'Care for the poor' (Matthew 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 14:13); Mammon says, 'Take away even those things the poor possess.' Christ says, 'Empty yourself of what you have' (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23); Mammon says, 'Take also what they possess.' Do you see the opposition, the strife between them? See how it is that one cannot obey both, but must reject one?... Christ says, 'None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions' (Luke 14:33); Mammon says, 'Take the bread from the hungry.' Christ says, 'Cover the naked' (Matthew 25:34-40; Isaiah 58:7); the other says, 'Strip the naked.' Christ says, 'You shall not turn away from your own family (Isaiah 58:7), and those of your own house' (1 Timothy 5:8; Galatians 6:10); Mammon says, 'You shall not show mercy to those of your own family. Though you see your mother or your father in want, despise them' (Mark 7:11)." (excerpt from HOMILIES ON PHILIPPIANS 6.25)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 Kings 8:22-23, 27-30 comments that even though Solomon’s Temple stood for hundreds of years, it did not last forever. But our need for God to dwell with us remained. As the apostles pondered the gift of the Holy Spirit that they had received at Pentecost, they began to realize that God had made each and every believer a temple of the Holy Spirit! Our longing for God to dwell with us was fulfilled. The Lord accomplished it; through his death and resurrection, he built this new temple.
You are a temple of the Lord. He has chosen you as his dwelling place. He spared no expense to prepare you to receive his presence. He shed his own blood to cleanse you from sin. He gave you his Holy Spirit and created a new heart in you. Along with Solomon, you might ask, How could the creator of heaven and earth dwell in a human being? How could he live in me? And yet he does! As you let these truths sink into your heart and mind, let praise rise up in you. What a right and fitting response to his extravagant love! “Almighty God, who am I that you would live in me? I am yours!”6
Friar Jude Winkler connects Solomon’s prayer recognizing the Presence of God in the Temple to Jesus' self-emptying action. The tradition was to wash hands before prayer and the Pharisees extended the scope of the Law by considering eating as a liturgical act. Friar Jude cites the Sermon on the Mount as Jesus extending the Law in a spiritual rather than a material way.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces author and activist Mungi Ngomane, who follows the passion of her recently deceased grandfather, the South African bishop and human rights activist Desmond Tutu, believing that ubuntu provides a unifying and hopeful vision for our diverse world. Ubuntu celebrates our diverse interdependence and is related to the wholeness or peace that Jesus brings.
We find that we are placed in a delicate network of vital relationship with the Divine, with my fellow human beings and with the rest of creation. . . . We are meant then to live as members of one family, the human family exhibiting a rich diversity of attributes and gifts in our differing cultures as members of different races and coming from different milieus—and precisely because of this diversity, made for interdependence. . . . The peace we want is something positive and dynamic. In the Hebrew, it is called shalom which refers to wholeness, integrity; it means well-being, physical and spiritual. It means the abundance of life which Jesus Christ promised he had brought. It all has to do with a harmonious coexistence with one’s neighbors in a wholesome environment allowing persons to become more fully human. [2]7
We are enlightened by the Spirit to reject traditions that close down our closeness with Christ through relationships with others.
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