Homily for Votive Mass - Blessed Virgin Mary, Temple of the Lord

 

Rev 21:1-5a

Ps 84:3-5, 10-11

Lk 1:26-38

 Christ the King Catholic Church, Iowa Park, TX

 

From the time King Solomon built the First Temple in Israel in 957 B.C. to the time of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D., the Jewish people believed that God dwelled within their temple. It was there that their priests offered daily sacrifice to atone for the sins of the nation. The Temple was the very center of their worship and their lives. The Temple gave them their identity as the People of the Covenant. But the Jewish Temples were mere buildings. They were imperfect and the sacrifices offered within could not atone for the sins of humanity for all time.

Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled the mystery of the temple in his life, death, and resurrection (Jn 2:19-22) and it is within Jesus Christ that the fullness of God dwells, for He IS fully God as well as fully human (Col 2:9) Throughout the New Testament, the Church is referred to as the ‘holy temple’ as we read in Revelation. Indeed, the Catholic Church IS the temple of the New Covenant. St Paul writes in Ephesians 2:18-21 that we “are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into the temple sacred to the Lord.” In fact, every single one of us, by virtue of our baptism, is also a temple of God because the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts! St. Paul also reminds us that because we are all individually temples of God, we are holy and are called to grow in holiness. (1 Cor 3:16-17)

Now that is a big order to fill! Sure, it is easy to start off holy, washed clean of all sin by our baptism, but we are wounded creatures, are we not? Concupiscence, the fruit of Original Sin, continually draws us away from holiness and drags us down into sin. How can we possibly learn to not only preserve the holiness with which we are gifted in baptism, but to grow in holiness all our lives, and even become saints? I bet we all know the answer – follow the example of our Blessed Mother.

In a unique way, the Blessed Virgin Mary is herself a holy temple. When she gave her fiat to God, when she freely chose to respond yes to His call and conceived God’s very Son in her immaculate womb, she became a true and literal temple of the Most High God. When she cherished the Word of God in her heart throughout the Gospels, when she loved her son Jesus Christ so fully as only a mother can, when she faithfully kept His word and pondered it in her depths, then the Son and the Father came to her and made their dwelling with her, keeping the promise of God in John 14:23.

We celebrate this Holy Mass this morning to honor the divine motherhood of our Lady and the example of her maternal holiness under this image of the temple. She truly is the Temple of the Lord in a most supreme way. Remember that Mary was prepared from the very beginning by the God the Father to be the mother of His Son. Keeping her free from the stain of Original Sin from the moment of her conception, God magnificently crafted Mary with an artistry beyond all telling, as prayed in our Collect a short time ago. He made of her a temple for His glory without comparison because of her obedience of faith. By the mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, Mary truly became a temple of holiness and love for all of us sinners.

Today, as we do every day, let us look to the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary as we strive to be worthy temples of the Lord in our daily lives. Let us imitate her faithful obedience. Let us savor and cherish reading the Word of God daily. Let us learn to love Jesus Christ above all else in our lives. In this way, we can indeed live holy lives, grow in holiness, and maybe, just maybe, become saints as well.

Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Temple of the Lord, Pray for Us!