Headless Chicken

Using terms of endearment for those we love

11/09/2021

1 Cor 3:9c-11, 16-17 Brothers and sisters: You are God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But each one must be careful how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ. Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.

People love to use terms of endearment when they talk about people they love. For example, two people who are very much in love may simply call each other “my love.” You may have heard people call their loved ones “sweetheart,” or “honey,” or “sugar.” In Spanish the terms of endearment are even stronger and sometimes even spiritual. For instance, someone might say, “mi cielo,” meaning “my heaven,” or “mi corazon,” which means “my heart.”

Surprisingly, in Spanish parents sometimes address children as “mommy” and “poppy.” Since I have started playing tennis, I have also gotten a nickname, “headless chicken,” as in “he’s running around like a chicken with his head cut off.” I am not sure if that term is endearing or insulting, but it does accurately describe how I play tennis.

In the scriptures today for the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, we hear people referred to as “the temple of God.” We might think that is a term of endearment, but it isn't. For example, in 1 Co 3:16, St. Paul talks to the Corinthians affectionately saying: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you?” Even though St. Paul speaks with great love for the Corinthians, he was not using a typical “term of endearment.” Why not?

Well, because terms of endearment only catch the corners of our character, not our essence, not our soul and center. When St. Paul tells the Corinthian Christians they are “temples,” he is not using a metaphor or analogy, a term of endearment, but rather uncovering their deepest identity. They are truly and really temples of God, because the Spirit dwells in them. We see this deep truth again when Jesus says in Jn 2:19, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” He was speaking about his body that would be raised up in three days after its destruction on the Cross.

In other words, Jesus’ Body is the Temple of God, par excellence, because the Holy Spirit dwells in him. By comparison to Christ, the great Jerusalem Temple was merely a metaphor and analogy. That is, the phrase, “temple of God” would have been a term of endearment to mean the Jerusalem Temple. In the same way, Christians, who are other Christs, are truly “temples of God,” and by comparison our earthly church buildings, magnificent as they are, remain merely metaphorically temples.

One of the great blessings of being the pastor of Immaculate Conception Church is celebrating the sacraments inside this beautiful building. Last Saturday I heard confessions in our confessional boxes, Sunday I baptized Vivian Jane Meares at the baptismal font, each day we gather around the altar for the Eucharist, and on Friday we will have the funeral Mass of Mary Lynn Lawler. There is little doubt that the Spirit of God dwells inside these four walls, especially whenever the sacraments are celebrated.

But do you know where the Holy Spirit seeks to reside even more than inside this great temple? You guessed it: inside the true temple that is you and me. And that is something we have to strive to see because we can easily miss the true temples that are Christians. When we hear babies crying, when we hear cell phones going off, when we see people arriving late to Mass and see others leaving early after Communion, when we see toddlers running around church like chickens with their heads cut off, we must recall St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God.”

And do not forget Jesus’ words, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” Both the Apostle and his Master meant that the true temples are individual Christians, and the material buildings, by contrast, are only temples metaphorically and secondarily. Someday, this magnificent church will be but dust and ashes, but all the little headless chickens will be raised in glory.

Praised be Jesus Christ!