HOMILY WEEK 29 02 – Year II
Temples of a Living God:
Optional Memorial of St. Pope John Paul II
(Eph 2:12-22; Ps 85; Lk 12:35-38)
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The readings today touch on our identity in Christ and the dignity we have as holy temples and spiritual dwelling places for God.
In the first reading, St. Paul goes to great pains to communicate to the Ephesians the grandeur of their new-found identity and dignity in Christ. Formerly aliens and strangers to God, their faith in Christ now places them into one new humanity, citizens with the saints, members of the household of God, connected to the apostles, and above all, a holy temple in the Lord and a spiritual dwelling place for God. They have every reason to rejoice in their exalted identity and the dignity that identity entails.
The Old Testament provides a significant background to this identity as a holy temple and dwelling place of God. The temple in Jerusalem was considered to be where God dwelt among God’s people. At the dedication of this temple, the glory or shekinah of God was so strong the priests could hardly enter. However, during the time of Ezekiel, the temple sacrificial religion had become so corrupt the shekinah, or glory of God, rose up, abandoned the temple and headed to the East. Then came the exile and destruction of Solomon’s grandiose temple.
After the exile and permission to return to their homeland, the second temple was built and dedicated. However, the glory of God did not return to the temple, and this always bothered the Jewish religious leaders. A result of this lack was the rise of the Pharisees, who sought to keep the law so perfectly they reasoned the glory of God would return to the temple. That of course, risks becoming the heresy of Pelagianism, or trying to earn God’s love.
One of the roles Jesus had as the Messiah was to restore the temple. We read in John how he cleansed the temple and referred to his own body as the temple to be raised up after three days. He was beginning the restoration of the temple. That was complete when the glory or shekinah of God did return, not to the physical temple in Jerusalem, but to the small band of believers in Jesus huddled in the upper room. Through the sound of a strong wind that shook the building and flames of fire, the Holy Spirit descended upon each person there and transformed them into the new temple of God through the indwelling of the Spirit of the Risen Lord.
That small band of believers was transformed into the Church, the Body of Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit, charged with continuing the mission of Jesus to communicate the depth of God’s love to the world. These are our ancestors in the faith, the foundation of apostles upon which the church of Ephesus was built, and upon which we now stand as the new temple and dwelling place of God. That is our identity and our dignity, and we are called to live it out.
In the gospel, Jesus instructs us how we can do just that – we are to be attentive to the Spirit, alert, dressed for action, waiting expectantly for Jesus to come again. I believe this means we are to put our complete faith and trust in Jesus, ponder his words through the scriptures, deepen our intimate relationship with him through contemplative prayer, and above all, seek to love one another as he has loved us, and to love even our enemies by forgiving them from the heart, as he has instructed us.
Today the Church remembers and honours Saint John Paul II, who in his own inimitable way lived these readings. Karol Józef Wojtyla, known as John Paul II since his October 1978 election to the papacy, was born in Poland in 1920. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1946 and appointed Archbishop of Krakov in 1964 by Pope Paul VI, who made him a cardinal in three years later. Besides taking part in Vatican Council II (1962-1965) where he made an important contribution to drafting the Constitution Gaudium et Spes, Cardinal Wojtyla participated in all the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops. After the death of Pope John Paul I in 1978, the Cardinals elected him Pope at the Conclave of October 16, 1978, and he took the name of John Paul II.
On September 9, 1984, John Paul II became the first pope to step foot on Canadian soil when he launched a 12-day, 15,000 km marathon pastoral visit taking him from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Millions of Canadians turned out to greet him, to pray and to celebrate with him. Speaking to crowds in English and in French, the Holy Father made more than 30 major addresses as well as many other statements.
In June 1987, John Paul II returned to Canada to fulfill a promise to meet with the Indigenous Peoples of the north in Fort Simpson, NWT, a visit thwarted by foggy conditions in 1984.
His love for young people brought him to establish the World Youth Days. The nineteen WYDs celebrated during his pontificate brought together millions of young people from all over the world. The attendance of Pope John Paul II for WTD 2002 in Toronto was the third official visit of the Holy Father to Canada. More than 800,000 people crowded Downsview Park for the closing papal mass on July 28, 2002.
John Paul II’s pontificate, one of the longest in the history of the Church, lasted nearly 27 years. He died on April 2nd, 2005, the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday, and was canonized on April 27th, 2014, by Pope Francis. John Paul II is the patron saint of World Youth Day. In Canada April 2nd is known nationally as St. John Paul II Day.
The Eucharist is based on our Jewish heritage. Our synagogue is the Liturgy of the Word, in which we attentively listen to and break open the Word of God. Our temple worship is the Liturgy of the Eucharist, only instead of animal sacrifice we offer to God the greatest sacrifice of all, the very body and blood of Jesus broken and shed upon the cross.
May our celebration deepen our identity and dignity as temples of the Holy Spirit and dwelling places of God and empower us to share our faith and reason for hope to all we meet, as did our ancestors in the upper room.
