Holy Temple
March 17, 2022
God, ‘The Alpha, The Omega and The Almighty’ inhabit in Holy Temple as He is ‘Holy.’ This house of God ‘Temple’ is embodied by three parts.
1. Holy Temple is The House of God
Holy Temple is The House of God where we pray being Holy Icons at front, praise and worship God. It is a Holy place for eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Lord Jesus Christ (partaking in the Holy Communion) with purity and chastity.
2. Holy Mother Saint Mary
Holy virgin saint Mary is the mother of God as she conceived Him for nine months and giving birth to Him with purity and Holiness. Thus, she is also known as ‘Holy Temple.’
3. Holy Temple are Christians
Saint Paul said, “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food” and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two shall become one flesh.” But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (I Corinthians 6: 12-20)
In the Epistle lesson today, Saint Paul tells us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and that our bodies are not meant for immorality but for the Lord. We probably don’t think of our bodies as temples, at least not as often as we should. We live in a society that is in to “super-sizing” meals. Our foods are filled with chemicals. I wonder if we really read the ingredients on some of the things we consume if we would still consume them. College students (and sadly some adults) have spent many a night embracing a toilet because they drank too much. None of this behavior is “temple worthy.” If our bodies are temples, we should treat them with a little more reverence.
Our bodies are our greatest tools for spiritual life and glorifying God. They include the necessary organs we use to sustain life. They include our hands which do good works, our minds which house our creativity, our eyes through which we take in ninety percent of stimuli, our mouths through which we communicate, and so many more things. If we keep our bodies like the temples they are supposed to be, controlling what goes in and what comes out of them, we will find ourselves much more successful in living a life of faith and better able to glorify God. “Glorify God with your body!” (I Corinthians 6:20) Keep your body like a temple. (Father Stavros Akrotirianakis )