28 October 2020 - from inside the house

Saints Simon and Jude, pray for us!

Today's Readings

(Audio)

you are fellow citizens with the holy ones

and members of the household of God

We are part of something bigger than ourselves. This is more than simply a 'me and Jesus' movement, although the relationship of each one of us to him is irreplaceable.

When day came, he called his disciples to himself,

and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles

The Apostles aren't the only ones who are chosen. We don't approach the household of God from the outside, like a job we research and then for which we apply. Rather the initiative and the call comes from inside the house.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you (see John 15:16).

What does it mean to be chosen and integrated into a preexisting structure? It means we don't get to play the architect or to make up the design of the structure ourselves. The household to which we are joined is the one that is "built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone." It also means that we don't get to set the terms for our continued participation. Imagine individual bricks leaving a wall because they didn't like the color it was being painted. A wall made up of bricks like that wouldn't last long.

Through him the whole structure is held together

and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;

in him you also are being built together

into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

We are built together by Jesus himself. This is a challenge to our individual identities, because it is a call to place our individuality in service of the purpose of that into which we are being built. This means that to the degree that we chose to be selfish we hinder the ways in which God in the Spirit can be present, not just in ourselves, but in the larger body. But when we allow ourselves to be built together, even if it means that we ourselves have to have our rough edges sanded down in order to fit, the Spirit will be able to be more present in the body than he would simply in unrelated individuals. Miraculous and powerful things begin to happen when we let the architect put the pieces in place and we cooperate with his designs for our lives.

you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (see First Peter 2:5).

The supernatural reality of this household is something that, when it is working as intended, becomes evident even to outsiders. Even without any proselytizing on our part they sense something spiritual at work within.

Through all the earth their voice resounds,

and to the ends of the world, their message.