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A collection of homilies and liturgies from St Patrick Catholic Community in Scottsdale, Arizona. We are Christian disciples in mission.
I was born in Safford, Arizona, which is about three hours east of here. And behind Safford itself is the Graham Mountains, really big mountains. The tradition in our family was that we would go to, the mountains on the weekend and have a picnic or a gathering or some kind of family function. And those created great memories. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes with Fritos.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you know you did that. When you have kids, you have to expand the palate as much as possible. And other items that we had, and I had great memories for those few years that we lived in Safford. Then as you get older, you try to reconnect to your past. And so I had an associate at Saint Charles in Peoria along with two parishioner friends of us.
Speaker 2:And I had this longing to go back to the Grand Mountains to see it for myself. It wasn't enough to be in my room alone and have great memories and go, man, I could smell that potato salad. No. I had to be there. So these friends decided to give me the honor of their presence going three hours all the way over there, finally getting up the mountain.
Speaker 2:And we were there. I remembered the different picnic places. We chose one that had a little creek running through it that we used to throw rocks in. They had the picnic table and the grill that we used to do hamburgers as well. And you know what?
Speaker 2:It seemed like it hadn't changed at all. And they were so kind to allow me to tell the stories that when we went out with the altar servers, how I was so clumsy that I was running down the hill with my friends, and I slammed into a tree. That was part of what happened. And so all the memories started coming back. Yes.
Speaker 2:I could have been alone in my room, and I could have said, oh, what great memories. But I needed to go back to re experience that, to know what my family meant, and how it transformed and shaped me, and at the same time, have friends that could experience in their own memories as they shared with me what they remembered as children. The temple is a center part of today's all three reading scriptures, and these are memories that are created by all the writers. Our first reading comes from the prophet Ezekiel chapter 47. He's allowed to have a vision, a vision of a new temple.
Speaker 2:And he is at the temple door. And as he looks in, he sees water flowing. It starts off as a small stream. And as he keeps looking, all of a sudden, it becomes the water becomes a mighty river. Now out of his temple, out of his sacred place, the water would flow out.
Speaker 2:And whatever the water touched, it brought fruit. It brought new life. God's presence is in the temple. And out of flowing of all the things that happened in the temple, that creation is touched by god. It isn't just what happens in the temple, but what flows from it.
Speaker 2:And Ezekiel reminds us that god's goodness is found whenever it touches humanity. God touches all creation, and that's why to return to the temple is a great remembering of all the things that god does. Saint Paul, in his first letter to Corinthians chapter three, writes about a temple as well. And and, yes, you may think it's about a building, but he goes further. He says, the building is made up of people.
Speaker 2:And here's what he says about the Corinthians and us, that you are living stones of the temple. And so he says, I have been given the grace to lay a foundation by my preaching, and the foundation of this temple is Jesus Christ. He reminds the Corinthians that they are not living up to the excellence of the temple. In other words, they're lassodexical, and they're not living in a way. And here's what he tells the Corinthians.
Speaker 2:Here's your choice. Make the temple holy or defile it. Make it holy or defile it. And here's what he says, and this is important. He says, we gather for prayer and sacrifice in the community, not about the building.
Speaker 2:Let me repeat that because some of us Christians really don't understand that. It is in the community where prayer and sacrifice happen. It's not about the building. We do need a place to gather, but you are living stones. Remember, I've told you a number of times in liturgical documents, you can look it up, and it's this, that the most sacred item in this sanctuary is not the altar, not the tabernacle, and unfortunately, not the priest either.
Speaker 2:It's you. You and I are the most sacred items to god. You are all living stones, and yet many Catholics don't understand that. I don't wanna get married in a building. I'd rather get married at the Biltmore.
Speaker 2:You're missing the point. Out of this flows transformation, a change, an understanding, a living stones of people want to bless that and journey with you and eat and be baptized together. Other people say, we're not allowed to go in our church building as if the building is the most important thing, but it's people. Even if we're not allowed to go in, the church exist. So you may wanna look at because some of you think father Eric's full of it, and I don't blame you.
Speaker 2:But chapter three, first Corinthians, Paul says, we gather in prayer and sacrifice in community. You are all living stones. In today's gospel from John, we see the anger of Jesus. And that's kinda hard for us to understand because we think of Jesus being nice and gentle and like a gentle shepherd. And yet what drives him to be angry?
Speaker 2:The people who are money changers are not doing bad stuff in the sense that they are legitimate in what they're doing. In that ancient time, coins had the image of Caesar and other pagan gods and said they are deities, and that would defile the temple by bringing these pagan images into the holiest of holies, which is the temple. And so when Jews came all over the world to come for sacrifice, they didn't bring their animals to sacrifice. They were able to exchange and also buy animals at our sacrificing. Here's the problem.
Speaker 2:The injustice and abuse of taking advantage of those who are poor. That's why Jesus is angry. Some of us think we can identify with Jesus being angry. And boy, at my house when they're breaking all the commandments and not doing things and they're breaking church law, I'm gonna get mad and put all the tables there. Well, you don't understand.
Speaker 2:It's the injustice of profit over people, greed, corruption. Things that dehumanize people is exactly why Jesus was angry. Jesus is not angry at us. He is angry for us. You might wanna look that up first or John chapter two because, again, some of you are saying, where is this coming from?
Speaker 2:Look it up. You will find out why he was angry, injustice of greed and profit over people. And so God then rather Jesus shows us that the temple is important because he will be the new temple. Now they misunderstand him and say, you must be using the word that says building. No.
Speaker 2:He uses the word of his own body that the temple can be broken down, destroyed, but it will be reeled up build up in three days, and it's the resurrection. And the disciples don't get it until after the resurrection. That's why they remember. That's why they gather in the temple. They gather in community is to remember transformation.
Speaker 2:And so the purpose of temple, the purpose of me going to the Grand Mountains to remember is that we are called to be transformational. God wishes to cleanse us through Jesus of sin. And the question we ask ourselves today, are we open to that cleansing? Because Jesus will turn the tables on us when you and I fall short, when people don't become sacred anymore, when profit and greed and corruption become the way of the land, Jesus is angry. And so how do we become transformational?
Speaker 2:My friends, Saint Patrick and all houses of God are mighty rivers. Communities that don't want cleansing, that don't want transformation, but only want to hear the voices that affirm what they already believe are like little tiny streams that do nothing for anyone. When we live here today, we are called to be transformational to the world. As water touches and brings fruit and new life to creation, so do we. And so today, what ways can you help transform the world?
Speaker 2:What ways can you leave from here gathered to people? My friends, Saint Paul reminds us, we gather for prayer and sacrifice for the community, in the community, not in the building. You need a building, but you are more important than these bricks. You and I are the living stones, and that's why greed, profit, corruption can never be in the forefront of human beings. And that's our challenge today.
Speaker 2:Are we willing to be part of that transformation in leaving here today? You have gathered not in a building, but with one another, the people of God, the living stone. Are you open to being cleansed? Are you open to be transformation?