by Rev. Herbert Nichols

Again this weekend we depart from the ordinary routine to celebrate a particular feast which for many might seem like only history. The original basilica was dedicated on November 9,324, on land donated by the Laterni family, which is the family of Constantine the great who converted to Christianity and put to an end an era of systematic and concentrated persecution of Christians.

In celebrating this feast we do not merely honor a building but celebrate the liberation of the early Christian Church, much as Jeremiah hailed the liberation of God’s people from captivity centuries ago.

Above all, as the Cathedral of the bishop of Rome, it is a symbol of the oneness of Christianity united with Peter, unfortunately a unity which has become splintered in the past 1,000 years. It therefore offers us another opportunity and challenge to reach out to one another.

It is a challenge to share who we are and what we have. In this final week of the third session of Renew, we are challenged to share ourselves as members of God’s family; to do some self- examination as to why we fail to reach out to those who are of different persuasions.

Like the religious leaders in Jesus’ time and throughout human history, attitudes towards status are one of the greatest obstacles to unity. We need to look at our prejudices, lack of tolerance, attitudes toward those whom we consider least among us. What are the isms that form barriers between peoples, between persons, between you and that someone with whom you will never speak?

What does it mean for us to be as Paul says; God’s building God’s temple? The temple is holy and therefore you are holy. Awesome words. It means that we are, first of all, built upon Christ Himself as the solid foundation, the rock; against which no storms, no scandals, no schisms will ever be enough to destroy his church.

Upon that foundation, however, is the Church built by diversity and sometimes division; pleading with the Corinthians to heal those divisions which weaken the structure of God’s temple. That healing can only be accomplished by honest dialogue and fraternal charity.

Metaphorically speaking, we have built an edifice with walls that are Corinthian, Gothic, Rococo, and Modernistic. Such a building is an eyesore, but what can be done now to bring some integration that is pleasing without loosing veracity?

Some might say tear it down and start all over; but it is the Temple of God and whoever would destroy God’s temple, God will destroy. Did he not show his anger merely against those who would abuse the use of the Temple, not the building but the people who are the temple, the poor who could do little to protest?

He found that the temple had become a place of bickering and bartering. He found a grasping and grabbing bunch, a bewildering mess. But his response was not one of knee-jerk anger. He did not fly off the handle. All of his actions were anchored in his own experience of godliness. The sense that he met in god’s house, the temple, was clearly not of God.

Jesus recognized immediately that what was needed was an immediate antidote to the cacophony and chaos and conflict of the temple court. Still the boldest and hardest of heart stumbled their way through the chaos to question his authority, to which he answered by revealing the temple’s deepest essence as Himself, giving totally new significance to what it means to worship in God’s temple and to dwell in the presence of God.

The liturgy today challenges us to remember that we are God’s temple, God’s own Spirit residing in us. The Son of God is the foundation and we are the bricks piled up and placed together one at a time

This is the final week of Session Three of Renew. Our next session, beginning with Lent, will focus on the theme of Reconciliation, not merely acknowledging our sinfulness and disruptiveness, but an attempt to restore right relationship to God and one another. But this week is the beginning, the eye opener to all that damage that has been done, to the mess that has to be cleaned up, not with whips but with the broom of love.