Today the Church celebrates not only a building, but the mystery that God chooses to dwell among us, and even more — within us.
Not a distant God. Not an idea of God. But God in the midst.
MEDITATIO
The word that comes to me today is dwelling.
Ezekiel sees water flowing from the temple, and wherever the water flows, life appears — trees bear fruit every month, leaves become medicine, the sea is made fresh.
God does not hoard life — He pours it out.
And then the Gospel shows Jesus cleansing the temple — not because He is angry at buildings, but because the dwelling place of God had been turned into a marketplace. The holy had become useful. The place of encounter had become transaction.
Jesus is restoring the place where God dwells to what it is meant to be: a place of mercy, welcome, and healing.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.”
God dwells where the poor are welcomed. Where the burdened are lifted. Where the outcast is not forgotten.
A Church that forgets the poor forgets who is living in the house.
ORATIO
Today I walked past the shelter where my three pigs sleep — just straw walls and a low roof. Nothing impressive. But it keeps them safe, warm, together.
And I thought:
God has always chosen simple dwelling places. A manger. A carpenter’s shop. A borrowed room. A cross. A heart that makes space.
“The Spirit of life dwells in every living creature and calls us to enter into relationship with him.”
Lord, cleanse the temples of my heart — the crowded places, the distracted places, the places where I have made faith into function instead of relationship.
CONTEMPLATIO
The pigs settle into their straw shelter as night falls. No grandeur. No marble. Just enough.
And I understand:
God dwells where there is room. Where there is welcome. Where there is simplicity and mercy and quiet joy.
The Basilica stands in Rome and my chest rises and falls here in Texas — and both are meant to be dwelling places for God.
So I rest now, not trying to build anything grand, but simply making room.
