A WORD FOR TODAY 9 NOVEMBER 2019

A WORD FOR TODAY 9 NOVEMBER 2019


A WORD FOR TODAY

YOU ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD

Today the universal Church celebrates the feast of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica. This Church is the Mother and head of all the Churches of the City of Rome. It is the Cathedral of the Pope which was constructed by the emperor Constantine. The Basilica was dedicated to Jesus the Saviour and the feast of the dedication of the Church is a feast of our Lord.

The first reading of today from the prophet Ezekiel tells the story about the water that was flowing from the the threshold of the temple. This water is highly medicinal and has power of restoration. The temple is a place of encounter and God dwells in it and when we come to the Lord's house we receive mercy, healing, restoration and strength to carry on in our service of Him and humanity.

The water from the sanctuary represents God and whoever comes to Him and dwells in Him shall be restored and made well again. The water (God) heals, restores, revives, washes away sin, brings peace, gives life, brings success and upliftment and makes us fresh. Jesus is the fountain of life and whoever drinks Him shall never thirst again. Come to the water of life and drink and you will never be the same again.

The Church is not simply the physcical building where God dwells, but more importantly, it is a place where we go to be with God, offer sacrifices to Him and also dialogue with Him. It is a sign of reconciliation by which Christ has brought us into communion with the Father. The Church is a symbol of life and a sign of unity and of Christian faith. The Christian faithful are the living stones which are united to form the Church.

Saint Paul in the second reading of today reminds us that we are the Church built upon the foundation of Christ and as such we should always be conscious of the fact that we are God's temple and His Spirit dwells in us. Therefore, it should be our constant duty and and primary assignment to take care of this temple and keep it holy and pure always. As much as we strive to take care of the physical building by way of aesthetics, we must very importantly make sure that our soul where God dwells is pure.

We must be careful what we do in the Church, lest we turn the house of God into a market place and den of thieves. Jesus in the gospel reading of today was consumed by the zeal of His Fathers house and He drove away those who have turned His Fathers house into what it is not designated for. We should let the same zeal consume us when we notice that the things are not going well both in the Church and in the society and we make effort to correct and fix it.

When we see things go wrong and fail to do something to correct it, it might end up destroying us. Therefore, this feast reminds us that we have a duty to clean up the temple and pray to God to restore our lost glory. We are God's temple and for God to dwell in us we must be holy. We must stay close to Jesus always and avoid anything that will contaminate or soil the sanctity of the temple of God which we are.

Good morning dearest one. Smile😊as you begin your day and do have a splendid weekend. May God's grace help us to live up to our responsibility as children of God and may we strive to be Holy always as God's temple. Amen. And may the Almighty God bless you: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Meditation: Ezekiel 47:1-2,8-9,12/Psalm 46:2-3,5-6,8-9/1 Corinthians 3:9-11,16-17/John 2:13-22

Watch-Word: The waters of a river give joy to God's city, the holy place, the dwelling of the Most High.

If you need to whip the chord in order to sanitize your life, do it, drive the distractions away, so that you will have peace and serve your God well.

(Saturday of the 31st week in the Ordinary Time, Year 1)