UNDERSTANDING GOD'S DWELLING PLACE


SAINT LEO THE GREAT, POPE, DOCTOR

Wis 1:1-7; Ps 139:1-10; Lk 17:1-6

Keeping the Temple Clean

The dedication of the Lateran Basilica has set the theme for our reflections this week, which is the glory of God's dwelling place. To consider the fact that God made us to be his dwelling place, as revealed in the scriptures, is something beyond our imagination. We do not know or realise the nobility that belongs to our nature from this revelation because we do not know the glory of the divine Majesty. Only the angelic beings stand in awe of this mystery of God dwelling in human nature; hence, they worship the Son of Man, who is the foundation and realisation of this mystery. As many of the Fathers have asserted, this mystery of the indwelling of God in human nature is the cause or the provocation of the fall of Lucifer and others who followed him to refuse the worship of God in man. Their refusal to worship or serve could not have been to the Godhead in the Trinity, because the mystery of God is beyond even the angelic beings. The throne that the evil one coveted and desired for himself is the one God has located in us as His temple. We are the Temple of God in this terrestrial paradise. Understanding that human cooperation is required for the divine plan, the evil one tempted man to usurp the divine throne located in them, knowing he could easily overcome them to sit on the divine throne. What else would these words imply: “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” He has never ceased to use the same line to trick us into abandoning God’s word.

God made us for himself, that we may be his dwelling place. The divine intention would only be realised by our loving obedience to the word of God. The loving obedience must be a spirit or a virtue in us for God to live harmoniously within us and become our life and glory. The book of Wisdom admonishes us to love virtue as follows. “Love virtue, you who are judges on earth, let honesty prompt your thinking about the Lord, seek him in simplicity of heart; since he is to be found by those who do not distrust him.” These words are addressed to all of us, for we are judges of our actions, determining to do what is good and avoid what is evil at each point. Since there is no virtue in us that has not its root in the word of God, we are to love the word of God and meditate on it daily. To guide against the old snare of the devil, we are to believe the word of God and trust the divine will in all things. We must guard against selfish intentions, which the evil one uses to enthrone himself in our hearts. The eternal Wisdom will not enter his temple in us if we seek self in place of God. “No, Wisdom will never make its way into a crafty soul nor stay in a body that is in debt to sin; the Holy Spirit of instruction shuns deceit, it stands aloof from reckless purposes, is taken aback when iniquity appears.” Sincere and loving obedience opens the door of our inward temple to the Word and the Holy Spirit.

The path of sincere and loving obedience to God’s word is the path of eternal life that the psalmist prays to God to lead us. When we lack sincerity and fail to obey God’s word with love, we open our eternal gate to the evil one. He enters to enthrone himself in us and employ us as agents of his insidious mission and snares. Thus, our Lord warns us: “Obstacles are sure to come, but alas for the one who provides them! It would better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone put round his neck than that he should lead astray a single one of these little ones. Watch yourselves!” Our faith increases as we sincerely and lovingly obey God’s word in all things. Saint Leo the Great is an example of such an illustrious and sincere lover of the word of God. He was born in Etruria and became Pope in 440. He was a true shepherd and father of souls. He constantly strove to keep the faith whole and strenuously defended the unity of the Church. He repelled the invasions of the barbarians or alleviated their effects, famously persuading Attila the Hun not to march on Rome in 452. He prevented the invading Vandals from massacring the population in 455. His writings reveal his deep insight into the Catholic faith and the mysteries of Christ. He died in 461.

Let us pray; O God, who never allow the gates of hell to prevail against your Church, firmly founded on the apostolic rock, grant her, we pray, that through the intercession of Pope Saint Leo, she may stand firm in your truth and know the protection of lasting peace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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