Temple of God

“Flowing through today’s readings is a single current: God builds a living temple overflowing with life. Ezekiel shows the source (water gushes from beneath the temple). Paul reveals the structure (the community of believers). John unveils the cornerstone (Jesus replaces the physical temple with his own body). God’s presence moves from place to person to people.”

“Our salvation transcends time and space, but does not bypass our material humanity or our history”

“Recognizing the sacred and affirming God’s Spirit within and among us is the way in which we feel the most harmony with God, with the rest of creation and with our ancestors who have gone before us. We are also challenged to think of our own bodies (and those of our neighbors) as places where God’s Spirit can dwell.”

“It is not enough to tell the world about love, compassion, mercy, peace and justice. All of these things are meaningless and empty unless they are grounded in Him who is love, compassion, mercy, peace and justice.”

“This is why Jesus railed against the sellers of pigeons and cattle and the money-changers: not just because they were corrupt, but because they made possible a form of worship that Jesus himself made redundant by his presence.”

“Even as change pushes us forward, there is the continuity of who we are and how we love. Even as life shifts in a new direction, we are still the same person that God cares for and that God has saved.”

“Church buildings should not be dismissed or rendered secondary, they have an enormous sacramental and symbolic significance”

“the renewed temple is the body of Jesus Christ, where divinity and humanity meet. Church, every church building in the world now from St. John Lateran to the humblest parish church is a representation of that temple. It's a sign, a symbol, a figure of the mystical body of Christ.”