Today we keep the feast
of the Pope’s own cathedral at Saint John Lateran in Rome. And as the Gospel ends, we will hear this most
beautiful phrase, whispered to us by the Evangelist: “He was speaking of the
temple of his body.”
The temple that will be
destroyed and raised up is not the Temple built of stones but the temple of
Jesus’ own Body. Jesus is the new gift of God that replaces the former. The
temple is no longer a place, but a person. Jesus declares himself now and
forever this meeting place between God and his people, the place where God’s
desire for us and our desire for God meet and merge. Washed in the blood and
water flowing the open side of the sanctuary of his holy body, we are being
formed into this most holy dwelling, to become his Body.
Because too often we have
forgotten the awesome destiny that is ours, let us beg his mercy.
