Word of the Week

9th Sunday in Ordinary Time

House: Bayith (Hb.): meaning "family, including ancestors and descendants”, behind it conveys a term that also can mean building, temple, or even dynasty.

The Temple of Jerusalem, built by Solomon, was the house of worship in which the faithful Israelites went to seek commune with God through worship and sacrifice (CCC 584, 2580). Christ “identified himself as God’s definitive dwelling place” (glossary, 901). The Holy Spirit animates the Church into a house of prayer and “The temple of the living God” (CCC 797) who is in communion with Christ.

The word house appears numerous times in both the Old Testament and New Testament with the underpinnings of the aforementioned synonyms converging in each passage. We see house early in the OT when God speaks to Miriam and Aaron that he has entrusted his house to their sibling, Moses (Num. 12:7). The word houseis seen most prevalent in the Letter to the Hebrews, where the author uses it 7 times to speak to Jesus’ house as the new temple in the new creation ordered to the blood of the new covenant (Hb.3:2-6; cf. 2 Peter 3:13; 2 Cor.5:1-5; Rev.21:5).  In addition, Paul reminds us that as a people of God we are his house when we exemplify our co-workmanship in Him (1 Cor.3:9).

The Jerusalem Temple housedthe presence of God in the midst of Israel. Similarly, Jesus comes bearing within himself God’s glory in a more profound way; he embodies holiness (Mt.1:23, 12:6; Jn.1:14, 2:19-21). It is thus the Temple, God’s dwelling place among his people, which prepared Israel to accept Christ’s incarnation. His presence is likewise embodied in the new house--the Church (Mt.16:18, 18:20).

Each house, the domestic church, is called to carry out the deeper meaning of what defines the universal house, namely sacrifice. It was through sacrifice that brought about God’s presence in the old temple in Jerusalem, and so it is that through sacrifice we will continue to bring about the presence of God within our homes and fulfill the mission of the Church. Let our ancestors recognize our faith by the manner in which we embrace the sacrificial life in our own homes.

Furthermore, it is during this Ninth Week in Ordinary Time that we are called to examine our response of faith in Jesus Christ. Have we been building our house on grainy sand with a lack of compassion and meritorious deeds? Or have we been building our house on solid rock with prayer and righteous deeds? We are challenged this week to consider more carefully the foundation from which we build our spiritual house.

"Maybe in our own family we have somebody who is feeling lonely, who is feeling sick, who is feeling worried.  Are we there?  Let us know the poor in our own families first.  We have old people: they are put in institutions and they are never visited; with less and less time even to smile at each other, with less and less time to be together.  Love begins at home, if we can only make our own homes temples of love."  

--Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

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