At mass Francis speaks of the physical "temple" as a building where we go to worship and the "spiritual temple", the human being as a "temple of the Holy Spirit” called to listen to God, to ask Him for forgiveness and follow Him. But "are our temples places of worship, do they favor adoration? Do our celebrations foster adoration? " . " In these two temples, our attitude should be one of piety, of adoration and listening, praying and asking for forgiveness, praising the Lord."

Vatican City ( AsiaNews) - " We Christians may have lost our "sense of worship" of God, Pope Francis said this morning at Mass celebrated at Casa Santa Marta, centered on the physical "temple" as a building where we go to worship and the "spiritual temple", the human being as a "temple of the Holy Spirit" called to listen to God, to ask Him for forgiveness and follow Him.

Vatican Radio reports that the Pope was commenting on the passage of the Old Testament, in which Judas Maccabeus reconsecrates the Temple destroyed by war . "The Temple as a place of reference for the community, a place of reference for the people of God ", where we go for many reasons one of which surpasses all others. "The temple is the place where the community comes to pray, to praise the Lord, to give thanks, but above all to worship: we worship the Lord in the Temple . And this is the most important point. This is also valid for liturgical ceremonies: , what is most important  in this liturgical ceremony? Chants, rituals - they are all beautiful... but the most important thing is worship : the whole community gathered to watch the altar where we celebrate the sacrifice and where we worship . But I think - I say this humbly - that we Christians may have somewhat lost the 'sense of worship , and we think:  lets go to the temple, lets come together as brothers and sisters - that's good , it's great ! - but the center is where there is God. And we worship God. "

But "are our temples places of worship, do they favor adoration? Do our celebrations foster adoration? " . Jesus chases out those who try to do "business" in the temple , who had taken the place of the Temple to do  trade rather than worship. But there is another "Temple" and another to be considered sacred in the life of faith . "St. Paul tells us that we are temples of the Holy Spirit . I am a temple. The Spirit of God is in me. He also tells us: ' Grieve not the Spirit of God is within you! ' . And even here, perhaps we can not speak of worship as before, but a kind of worship that is the heart that seeks God's Spirit within and knows that God is within, that the Holy Spirit is inside. That listens to him and follows him".

Of course, following God presupposes a continuous purification , "because we are sinners": "we purify ourselves by prayer, penance, the sacrament of reconciliation and the Eucharist ." And so, "these two temples - the material temple, the place of worship , and the spiritual temple inside me, where the Holy Spirit dwells - in these two temples, our attitude should be that of piety, of loving and listening , praying and asking for forgiveness , praising the Lord". "And when you speak of the joy of the Temple, we talk about this: all the congregation in worship , in prayer , in thanksgiving , in praise. Me in prayer with the Lord, that is within me because I'm  a 'temple'.  Listening, being open. May the Lord grant us this true sense of the Temple, to be able to move forward in our life of worship and listening to the Word of God. "

 

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