Temple 3.0+. On Location (2022-11-13, Sunday-33)

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2022-11-13    ●Malachi 3:19-20a  ● ● Psalm 98 ● ● 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12 ● ●  + Luke 21:5-19 ● ●       Title:  Temple 3.0+. On Location

[__01__]      It is a tradition in Hollywood action-hero movies that the action herself or action hero himself would protect not only people but also major landmarks, important buildings. For example. Spider-Man protects New York City.

          But, since the Gospel readings are always in the Middle East, let’s go there.

In the movie Transformers 2, we see an Egyptian Pyramid in danger of being destroyed, by one of the villains. This particular scene in the Egyptian desert is unusual because the movie producers were permitted to film “on location” at the real pyramids in Egypt But, don’t worry, no actual pyramids were harmed in the filming of Transformers 2. It was all fictional computer generated or “CGI”

[__02__]      Since we have seen pyramids and skyscrapers – on screen – both destroyed and rescued, we might wonder where Jesus is going with all of this…  stones of the Temple being torn down. Is this reality or virtual reality?

Yes it is actual reality. Historically, Jesus was “on location” in 30 A.D., during a time of strength and stability. For the Jewish people, in real life, this was the “2^nd Temple Period”.   Temple 2-point-Zero.   And, it was not CGI !

The Temple 1.0 – also a real building - had been destroyed when Assyria / Babylon conquered Israel and captured them in exile.  “Temple 2.0” was constructed after the Jewish people returned from exile.  During Temple 2.0, the Roman Empire had taken control of Israel / Jerusalem.

40 years after this today’s Gospel, in 70 A.D. when there was a Jewish rebellion and the Roman Empire army invaded and destroyed the Temple.  The destruction of Jerusalem / 2^nd T = major turning point in Jewish history. Did strength become weakness? Some people thought so.  They also wondered if there would be a Temple 3.0+.

Spoiler Alert: Jesus Himself is the Temple 3.0+ and beyond.

How is it possible to protect and build this Temple 3.0+ and beyond, in our lives? I’d also like to touch on how prayer and the church are Jesus/Temple 3.0 and how they can be constructed in your home and room and in my home and room and everyday life.

[__04__]      Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote of the value of the Church that we need a place for gathering in church because “nowhere is a man closer to himself and to others as in shared silence.”  (Ratzinger, Dogma and Preaching, Church Architecture chapter, p. 237 – see also quote from p. 240 )

So the church is meant to be this place of shared silence where we can be together, where we can hear God's word, we can pray for each other.

The church also can be a model, an architectural plan for your home.    We are called to make a connection between how we live life in church and how we live at home.

First how do we live at church?

 

 [__03__]        Here in the parish church of Our Lady of Lourdes, we have a beautiful temple, a building where we worship God, and as your parish priest, I'm concerned with this church building, protecting it, securing it, financing it, but also I'm doing so that's so that the Holy Spirit can I'm doing so that the Holy Spirit can dwell and reside not only here at 1 E-R-A, but also in the bodies, minds and hearts of our homes.

I suggest your / my “home  improvement”  project is a collaboration in which we are striving for both CONTEMPLATION and CONVERSION.

But … “contemplation” is not just a form of relaxation or leisure … and “conversion” is not just about getting an upgrade to better technology.  The Temple 3.0 is partially available on your phone, certainly there are apps and methods of praying we can use on our devices. But, this is not a substitute for church or Sunday Mass any more than calling or texting your Mom/Dad is a substitute for visiting.

This  “contemplation” and “conversion” is part of our church building – our Temple.

But I suggest we also need this blueprint elsewhere.

There’s meant to be a connection of church to home “on location”.

I’d like to touch on 2 things that are features of church.

1^st. the Pews – or benches for seating. "Pew" is fancy word for the wooden bench. And the Kneeler.

Does this mean that you should have pews and kneelers in your living room? Or a marble stone dining room table? Yes, that would be really inconvenient and weird.

But the question I have to ask myself, about my own living space, or my own, in my work or living area, do I connect the Eucharist that I received at this altar – and do you connect the Eucharist you receive to the sacrifices you make in the “altar” of your own table or kitchen counter.

While sitting on a wooden pew with a kneeler invites me to be quiet – can I not be quiet or seek silence at other times – as though there is a  pew / kneeler – in my car (turn off the radio) in my home, at my desk?

So the church is meant to be kind of an architectural plan for our own lives.

2^nd Confesssionals.  Also, in the church, we have something else we not just have pews, we have the confessionals.

Now that confession is confessionals are where you go to say Bless me, Father, for I have sinned, it has been three weeks or three years since my last confession. I'm not suggesting you should put confessionals inside your home, but in your home, or in your relationships with others.

Do I live in such a way that I that I can admit my faults and mistakes honestly, clearly to others without first thinking about what they're going to think of me or fear of punishment or reprisal?

But confessional exists in the church, not just as an extreme makeover or paint job for sins, so that I can look good to everybody else. That confessional in the church exists so that I can know I'm a sinner.

I know I'm in need of God's mercy and I can no other people are in need of God's mercy. That's the architectural plan.

We pray that we will have eyes to see each day because it's sometimes easy to miss God in our lives, or we go in the wrong direction.

We are here in church so that we might focus on Him and to love others better. Jesus was not just predicting that stones would be torn down. For while Jesus was predicting He would be torn down. And this made him very unpopular for a while.  Low ratings in the media!

And by the way, this theme of Jesus being torn down will be continued Next week's gospel when Jesus is actually on the cross suffering

Yet, this was for our benefit to learn about the grace of rebuilding through his sacrifice and resurrection for us.   Using the terminology of technology, Jesus is the Temple 3.0+,

But using the terminology of the Temple, where the 118^th psalm was originally sung…. :  “Jesus is the stone which the builders rejected [and] has become the cornerstone. By the Lord has this been done and it is wonderful in our eyes.”  (Psalm 118)     [__end__]