A CHURCH ALIVE
Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; 1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17; John 2:13-22
In 1953, reporters gathered at a Chicago railway station to meet the 1952 Nobel peace prize winner. Suddenly, during the welcome, the man excused himself and walked up to an elderly Afro-American woman struggling to carry her suitcases. He picked up her cases, escorted her to a bus, then returned to the waiting group, and apologised for keeping them waiting.
That was Dr Albert Schweitzer, the missionary-doctor who had spent his life helping the poor and the sick in Africa. A member of the reception committee remarked: “That’s the first time I ever saw a sermon walking.”
Dr Schweitzer understood the meaning of being church: being alive. He was also alive to the reality around him.
Benedict XVI reminded us that “the temple of stones is a symbol of the living church, the Christian community, which… is a ‘spiritual edifice,’ built by God with ‘living stones,’ namely, Christians themselves.”
The readings highlight this fact. Ezekiel emphasises that the temple is the source of life-giving water. St Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are God’s holy building with Christ as their foundation. Therefore, they need to build their lives carefully and live lives worthy of their calling. Through the cleansing of the temple, Jesus indicates that he is the new temple… the source of life and love. These are not separate truths but a movement: from the physical temple to the human heart to the divine presence among us, from structure to spirit.
Do I see myself—and other Christians—as church? Am I—and the community of believers to which I belong—a live church and a church that is alive to the realities around me? Am I a source of life and love?
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