Heart of Jesus, Holy Temple of God
“Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, "Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace." His disciples recalled the words of scripture, "Zeal for your house will consume me." At this the Jews answered and said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his body.” (Jn 2:13-21)
The heart of Jesus is compared to the Jerusalem temple. This litany's invocation is taken from the Old Testament, but Jesus himself also speaks of his body as a temple: "Destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days" (cf. Lk 26: 61). The temple is a place of sacrifice and Jesus with all his life is sacrificed to his father. The fire of love burned in him as the fire in the temple of Jerusalem burned. The heart is a place where God wants to meet man, is a tabernacle of God. It is in Jesus and through Jesus that we can meet God. Also, we are the temple of God. And it depends on me how this temple will look. God does not leave his temple, but can be thrown out of it or accepted in it. Let us thank Jesus for his sacrifice to the Father for us. Be thankful for that we can be God's temple.
LIVE THE WORD!
Look at yourself, your life and your behavior. Remember that you are the temple of the living God and reflect on what temple you are. Invite God to your life, to your everyday life. Make Him Lord and Host.
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
On the first Sunday after Pentecost, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.
God, seeing that the Holy Trinity remains a mystery to us completely unfathomable, has revealed this mystery to us. He revealed himself in the persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. During the Old Testament he appeared first as a Father.
The most well-known proof of this is the scene of Abraham's visit by three angels (cf. Gen 18: 1-33), beautifully illustrated by the icon of Rublev. The patriarch was visited by three angels and he said: "Three saw and worshiped one" (tres vidit et unum adoravit). During the New Testament, God appeared to us in the Person of the Son. Finally, after the Ascension, he appeared to the Church in the Person of the Holy Spirit.
The theological summary of these truths are the words of Gregory of Neocaesarea : " There is a perfect Trinity, in glory and eternity and sovereignty, neither divided nor estranged. Wherefore there is nothing either created or in servitude in the Trinity; nor anything super induced, as if at some former period it was non-existent, and at some later period it was introduced. And thus neither was the Son ever wanting to the Father, nor the Spirit to the Son; but without variation and without change, the same Trinity abides ever.”
The Vision of St. Augustine
The Mystery of the Trinity
The great Doctor of the Church St. Augustine of Hippo spent over 30 years working on his treatise De Trinitate [about the Holy Trinity], endeavoring to conceive an intelligible explanation for the mystery of the Trinity.
St. Augustine was walking by the seashore one day contemplating the mystery of the Holy Trinity when he saw a little child running back and forth from the water to a spot on the seashore. The boy was using a shell to carry water from the large ocean and pour it into a small pit that he had made in the sand. Augustine came up to him and asked him what he was doing.
“I’m going to pour the entire ocean into this hole,” the boy replied.
“What?” said Augustine. “That is impossible, my dear child, the sea is so great and the shell and the hole are so little.”
“That is true,” the boy said. “It would be easier and quicker to draw all the water out of the sea and fit it into this hole than for you to fit the mystery of the Trinity and His Divinity into your little intellect; for the Mystery of the Trinity is greater and larger in comparison with your intelligence than is this vast ocean in comparison with this little hole.” And then the child vanished.
What does it mean?
Some say that St. Augustine had been talking with an angel sent by God to teach him a lesson on intellectual pride. Others say it was the Christ Child Himself who came to remind Augustine of the limits of human understanding in relation to the great mysteries of our Faith.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george