8 November 2008

Greetings Friends,

The image of temple is abundant in all of today’s readings. We, our bodies, are the temple of the Lord – a holy creation of God. And yet, in the society in which we live with its emphasis on worldly success, consumerism, and getting ahead can lead to a disregard or diminishing of seeing ourselves as holy or a temple of the Lord. Sometimes this is a tough reality for me to really take in. We do have to survive in our world. And yet, we are also called to reverence our being and lives as God-given gifts of holiness. The struggle becomes finding a way to turn an “either/or” into a “both/and”. We do not either live completely in our world of human desires for success (how ever we define that for ourselves) or in a totally spiritual realm disregarding our duty as responsible citizens of our families, communities, or country. We are called to both “worlds” so to speak.

How we see and tend to our spiritual dimension does have direct bearing on how we relate to others and the world/society we live in. If we acknowledge our being – our life – as a loving creation of our generous God and treat ourselves and others as such, we in turn will become and be grateful, loving and caring toward ourselves and others. Our holiness as a temple of the Lord is embracing the fact that we are constantly being loved into the way God’s sees us and intends us to be.

May we allow Christ to drive into our hearts the goodness and grace to witness for others the deep and abiding love of God for all.

Peace on the Journey