AT HOME IN GOD

Archeologists believe that the first house had been built 1.8 million years ago in Oldupai Gorge (also called Olduvai Gorge) site in Tanzania. It is a circle of stone surrounding a slightly sunken spot of earth. Its diameter is about thirteen feet. It resembles the foundations of grass or stick huts still being built by hunter-gatherers in other parts of the world today. From that simple house of stones and straws, the concept of a house has evolved into a complex design in the present era. Some are made of steel, glasses, and other precious materials. But the most revolutionary addition man has made to a simple wall around him and a roof over his head is the values he added onto this built structure; such as love and good memories. That makes a house more than a simple dwelling place. It makes it a home, as people related to one another live in it, connected by the bonds of charity. 1.8 million years after the first house was built, we now have the concept of a home.

As we build one for ourselves, so we also build a house for God. We build churches and temples where the Lord can dwell in them. And indeed God is present in the chapels, churches, and cathedrals we build. He is present in the tabernacle where His body is reposed. He is present in His words proclaimed in these places of worship. He is present among us gathered in His name. He is present through the priest administering to His people. These make these chapels, and churches truly home of God.  

And we take care of these homes. Like Judas Maccabeus (1 MC 4:36-37, 52-59), we desire that these places of worship may remain purely dedicated to the Lord. Upon the banishment of pagans in the temple, they ornamented the facade of the temple with gold crowns and shields and celebrated for eight days for winning back again God's presence in their midst. Jesus in the gospel, desired too that the temple may remain pure and so He drove out those who had turned the temple into a market place reminding the people: "It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves” (cf. Lk 19:45-58). The same obligation falls upon us; to keep our places of worship purely dedicated to God; to keep them clean and well maintained; to ensure that they truly exist as homes fitting for God's presence.   

But there is God's dwelling place that the Lord desires us to maintain, far elegant than any built structure. That is our bodies that God Himself created as sacred temples of the Holy Spirit. In these “temple” which is our bodies, we can praise the glorious name of the mighty God. And the greatest praise we can give to God to adorn these temples of our body with holiness and kindness, with virtues that truly please the Lord. That will make our bodies truly homes of God. Not by our strength can we do this, but by holding on; hanging on to God's words to us.

Is the Lord at home in us? Are we at home in God?