“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” - John 2:19

“Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

          In today's Gospel, we talk about Jesus' temple in Jerusalem. For the Jews, the temple is the place for sacrifices and offerings, a place where God's presence is found. Jesus referred to the temple as His Father's house which was being made into a “house of trade”. He requests that the temple be destroyed and be restored after three days, but the temple He had spoken was His body.

            In reality, we are God's temple. The temple in the Gospel speaks about the body in which the presence of Christ dwells. We are referred to as the Holy Temple of God for the Holy Spirit is present among us. We do not only refer to ourselves as the Temple, but also the Church, the sacred place where God's presence is found. Therefore, whoever destroys the temple destroys God. We consider ourselves holy for we know God is among us. Jesus' disintegration of the temple was an act of change. The temple was becoming a marketplace wherein the real value of it was diminishing. Jesus wanted to destroy the temple and restore its worth. Just like in reality, we are being destroyed by the temptations and evil of sin. Slowly, we tend to forget the real value of our own self and we are driven away by our thoughts and imaginations. We even tend to forget God. But God never leaves, never forgets, and never goes away. We may think that He's not there, but the truth is, He was always there, we weren't just looking for Him. Jesus restored the temple and the Jews believed in what He said. For us Christians, Jesus restored us and remained in us and we believed in Him. The most important thing that this Gospel teaches us is respect. We and the church are considered as the temple of God. Therefore, we are holy. Whatever destroys us, whatever sin we commit, whatever evil doing we did not even intend to do, also destroys God. We are being taught by the value of respect because we respect ourselves as we respect our God. In cases when we attend mass every Sunday or even do acts of charity, we give respect to God as the one guiding us to do these things. If you come to think of it, why do we go to church or why do we pray when we feel like we want to? It's not purely our own will, but God's guiding hand leading us the way.

            Ever since I entered my second year in college, everything changed. From chill days to no sleep days, from staying late with friends to staying late in libraries or coffee shops, and from joys and laughs to tears and disappointments, there came a time where I said to myself, “Ayaw ko na. Pagod na ako.” I was forgetting my priorities. I didn't have time to even go to Saturday activities and even just take time to stop by at the chapel to pray. In short, I was being slowly separated from my faith in God. I was always confused whether I should study or go to church. But it was only a matter of time when I realized what was happening. One night I received a text from a classmate. It said, “Before you sleep, remember that it's ok not to be ok. We all have struggles. God loves you for who you are, but too much to leave you that way.” I came to a pause and thought of that text I received. I realized that even though I was at my downfall moments, there is one thing I could always turn back to, and that is to turn back to God. I may have left and forgotten Him for a while, but I know one thing's for sure, God did not leave me. We may think sometimes that God left us, but we were wrong, God never leaves for He dwells within us. We may think of giving up, but the reason we still hold on, is because of God giving us that strength. I may be destroyed for a moment in time just like the temple, but I was restored back, not by myself, but because of God's presence.

-Brittany Banes