We rejoice in today’s feast of the presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple. In some places, it is still part of Catholic culture to “present” a newborn child in church. The priest receives the child from their parents and blesses the child. As with several things we do to reminisce about biblical events, we only sometimes capture the whole meaning. The feast of the presentation in the Temple teaches us something profound and powerful about the Temple (God’s Holy Place).
“The Lord whom you seek will suddenly appear in His temple.”
A temple is a sacred space excepted from all profanities. A temple is a place of worship. It is holy, set apart, clean, quiet, endearing, a source of blessing—reconciliation with God, gaining divine strength; it is also a place of encounter with God because God dwells in a special way in the Temple.
The catechism teaches that God is everywhere. Despite God’s omnipresence attribute, He still has a dwelling place. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know God’s address? Well, if one ever wonders where to find God, know that God dwells “in His temple,” your heart.
You, as God’s Temple
From the beginning of man’s walk with God, one of the most incredible promises of God is that He will dwell among His people. We see this understanding in most passages of the Old Testament. The New Testament identifies the human body as the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Here is a crucial point from today’s feast and first reading: we find/encounter God when we seek Him. “The Lord whom you seek will suddenly appear in His temple.” If we do not look out for Him or intentionally seek Him, we will not recognize Him when He “appears.” Interestingly, one finds God in the Temple of one’s heart before finding Him in the church building.
More than the building, the church’s essence lies in the sacraments, which impart Divine Grace to the believer. The believer who receives graces of the sacrament must have found the Lord in their heart (See Rom 10:9). The Temple of your heart is necessary for accessing spiritual treasures of the church building. In today’s gospel, God promised Simeon that he would not see death until he saw Christ. God fulfilled His promise to Simeon as the parents of Jesus presented Him in the Temple.
Where do you think God made this promise to Simeon? It was not in a church with a microphone. Simeon received the Divine promise in His heart. The things we hear and learn in church only make sense because it confirms the truth already tugging at our hearts. Have you ever felt a preacher was speaking directly to you? Several other people in the church felt the same way. The reason is that the human heart is the same—a place beautifully marked off as God’s dwelling. The good things that proceed from the human heart are divine.
However, we should not eschew the gathering of the believers (see Hebrews 10:25) because God dwells in the hearts.
Seek the Lord by protecting your heart from impurities, shutting off every form of wicked thoughts and whatever disdains God. Make the Temple of your heart habitable to the Almighty ever-loving God through constant sacrificial worship, steady reception of the sacraments, and love of neighbor.
