Word to the Wise
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 - St. Ignatius Delgado, OP and Companions- Dominican Martyrs in Vietnam
[Daniel 2:31-45 and Luke 2:5-11.]While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, "All that you see here - the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down." (Luke)
Imagine the Pope, at his usual Wednesday General Audience out in St. Peter's Square, making the statement that Jesus made to his disciples about the temple in Jerusalem. There might be a riot! Everyone would want to be among the last to see St. Peter's Basilica still standing! (As it is, Rome is in a seismically dangerous location!) Of course, Jesus' prediction would come true at the hands of the Romans! In 70AD, they tore the temple down as a result of the attempted revolution by the Jews and eventually built a completely new city on top of the ruins! Imagine the same thing happening in Washington, D.C.! The capitol building, the White House, the Supreme Court building, the various "monuments, " and the Pentagon - all in ruins! It's an emotionally difficult thing to conceive. Yet Jesus' warning applies as much to us as it did to the Jews (and to the Romans in the 400's AD!). There is no such thing as a monument of earthly materials that will last forever. Ask the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas of Latin America! Perhaps, like the great medieval cathedrals or the temple complex at Angkor Wat in Thailand, there is a human need to build big things as a way of expressing human prayers, aspirations and pride. But it can all be covered over like the pyramids in Egypt, to be dug up by future generations. I know this all sounds a bit gloomy, but I feel that Jesus' statement helps us to put some perspective on our human greatness. That "greatness" comes from being made in the image and likeness of God and not from building big monuments and churches. We are all temples of the Holy Spirit, and as such we are destined to live forever. The same cannot be said of anything we build. AMEN
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