To See Temples

Letting the coronavirus teach us contemplation

04/22/2020

Hebrews 7:24-27 Jesus, because he remains forever, has a priesthood that does not pass away. Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them.It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens. He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself.

A humorous little scene unfolded early one morning at a local grocery store. Elderly people formed a long line around 6:45 a.m. because the store would open at 7 a.m. for seniors only. A young man came up from the parking lot and tried to cut in at the front of the line, but an elderly lady beat him back into the parking lot with her cane. He returned and tried to cut in again, but an old man punched him in the gut, then kicked him to the ground and rolled him away. As the young man approached the line for the third time, he told everyone: “If you old buggers don’t let me unlock the door, you’ll never get in there!” Now, according to eye-witnesses at the scene, that lady was Jean Shields and the elderly man was Dick Udouj. I’m just sharing what I heard.

In his very first encyclical, Pope Francis said beautifully: “A preacher has to contemplate God’s word, but he also has to contemplate God’s people.” And by the way, that is not just every preacher’s job, but that is every person’s job. That was exactly the error of those elderly people in line at the grocery story. How so? Well, they failed to “contemplate God’s people” – that is, to look more closely and more deeply – at the young man coming to open the door for them. They thought he was breaking in line. Instead of just contemplating, they jumped to conclusions.

Today, let me invite you to also look closely at the word “contemplation – to sort of contemplate contemplation! Can you hear the word “temple” hidden in “contemplation,” “templa”? In other words, when we contemplate we begin to see the whole world as a magnificent macro-temple. Indeed, with so much less pollution, today with no one driving cars, or factories working, the earth is gaining again her pristine perfection like when God first made all creation a temple, where Adam and Eve would rest and worship. But contemplation shows us more than that: it also reveals that each person is a micro-temple, like that grocery store clerk. What do I mean? C. S. Lewis wrote these memorable lines in his celebrated essay, “The Weight of Glory,” he said: “Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.” The low-hanging fruit of contemplation, therefore, is to see temples: the maxi-temple that is the world, as well as the mini-temple that is each person.

We just heard the Letter to the Hebrews describe Jesus as the high priest who ministers in the cosmic Temple of creation. We read: “For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” When the author of Hebrews contemplates Christ, he beholds the eternal high priest ministering in the heavenly sanctuary. If the earth is the temple, then the heavens are the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary. But do you know what is Jesus favorite temple to minister in? That temple is me and you. St. Paul taught the Corinthians in his second letter: “For we are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor. 6:16). Did you catch that? We are the temples of God. Contemplation teaches us to behold temples: not only the macro-temple that is the cosmos, but also the micro-temple that is each Christian, indeed, that is every human being.

Perhaps one of the positives of this pandemic is it afford us all an opportunity for contemplation, that is, to see temples. This pandemic gives us time for serious prayer, if we take advantage of it. Occasionally, during the day I cross paths with parishioners stopping by to visit the church. They miss seeing the temple that is our gorgeous Gothic church of Immaculate Conception! I am so happy to see them that I sometimes get tears in my eyes! I realize how much I miss greeting them after Mass, with a handshake or a hug. I feel a deep desire to contemplate each of them: to sit, to stare and to study them lovingly. Every preacher’s job is not only to contemplate God’s word, but also God’s people.

How paradoxical that it took a pandemic to teach me the art of contemplation. Every person I see now I behold as a mini-temple, where the eternal high priest, Jesus, ministers as in his favorite sanctuary. Or at least, maybe it teaches me not to hit them with my cane, or punch them in the gut.

Praised be Jesus Christ!