Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Kings
8:22-23.27-30; Mark 7:1-13)
People
today seldom have to be out of earshot or even sight. The technological revolution has
brought family, friends, even teachers together in unimaginable ways. Products like Zoom and Facebook have eased the burden of the Covid
pandemic. But they cannot
substitute for one another’s physical presence.
Likewise, the temple which
Solomon has built performs this unique function.
In the
first reading Solomon addresses the Lord regarding that temple. He acknowledges that God cannot be restricted
to it. God is everywhere. But, Solomon says, God has designated the Temple
as His preferred place of encounter.
People are to go there to offer sacrifice of animals and, whenever
possible, just to pray.
Our bodies
too are temples of the Holy Spirit.
Still, we need special places of encounters with God. These places remind us of the divine by their
structure and their accoutrements. We can
and perhaps should pray everywhere. But
we cherish prayer in places designated as the “house of God.”
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