Temples of the Spirit

Today's Feast, the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the "Mother Church of Christendom" the real See of the Bishop of Rome, not St. Peter's, calls us to look at "temple" from several points of view.  First, there is an obvious reference to the Temple of Jerusalem, the designated dwelling place of God, where the Ark of the Covenant was honored in the Holy of Holies.  Jesus referred to himself as the temple which would be destroyed and raised up in three days, a thought totally missed by the Scribes and Pharisees and their followers. Since the temple was located in Jerusalem, there is a close association with Jerusalem itself as a symbol of God's dwelling place, now the Church, also known as the "Bride of Christ."  Finally, there is the level of looking at each one of us as temples wherein dwells the Holy Spirit given to us at Baptism.  This last category carries huge implications especially relevant today, when a disbelief in God, (for some), and certainly of the Indwelling of the Spirit, has reduced the human body from a magnificent temple, to a temporary vehicle for an earthly existence that ceases with death.  When there is no reverence for the body as the temple of God, life becomes cheap, "anything goes", that is, "if it feels good, do it" and "if it's painful, end it."  We just have to look at the recent passage of laws to see that this view is becoming more and more prevalent.  Let us deepen our belief in the sacredness of life, our bodies and our eternal destinies and help others by action and conversation to become more open and accepting of the truth that God has created each one of us as a temple in which he can live and move and give us the fullness of our being.
Bro. Rene