{"id":8996,"date":"2019-11-16T17:45:46","date_gmt":"2019-11-17T01:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lubukhati.org\/?p=8996"},"modified":"2019-11-16T17:45:46","modified_gmt":"2019-11-17T01:45:46","slug":"gods-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/?p=8996","title":{"rendered":"God\u2019s House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

33rd<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 17, 2019 – Luke 21:5-9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the reign of Herod the Great, the Temple of Jerusalem was\nrefurbished, adorned by gold and other precious metals, and expanded, and thus\nmaking it the crown jewel of the Jewish nation. However, the Temple was not\nmerely a magnificent building, but primarily the center of Jewish religious\nworship and religion. Every morning and evening, sacrifices were offered, and\nevery year, Jewish men from all over the world made their pilgrimage, and paid\ntheir homage the Lord God. It was the place where God chose to stay, the place\nwhere the Israelites meet their God, and the house of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at the majestic view of the Temple and its religious\nsignificance, many would believe that the Temple would last forever because God\nHimself would defend His house. Yet, Jesus prophesied against the sentiment of\nthe Israelites and told His disciples that this beautiful Temple would be\ndestroyed. Surely, Jesus\u2019 words offended the religious sensitivity of His time\nand one of the accusations against Him was precisely because Jesus spoke\nagainst the Temple, against God Himself. Yet, 40 years later, in 70 AD, the\nRomans under General Titus, burned the Temple and razed the city to the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\u2019 prophesy opens us to the profound truth that even God allows His\nhouse on earth to be destroyed. Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (now Istanbul)\nwas the grandest church in the 4th<\/sup> and 5th<\/sup> centuries and\nconsidered to be an architectural and engineering marvel. Yet, when\nConstantinople fell to the Turks, the church stopped functioning as a Christian\nworship place. In our time, the Cathedral of Notre Dame was an iconic Gothic\nbuilding at the heart of Paris. Yet, on April 15, 2019, the fire destroyed many\nparts of this holy building. Just this month, some churches in Chile became the\ntarget of violent demonstrators. They forcefully entered the churches, took out\nthe pews and other religious images, and burnt them outside the churches, not\nto mention, the desecration of the tabernacles. The houses of God have been the\nobject of vandalism, violent anger, and untold destruction, and God allows\nthose to take place in our midst. But why? Is God weak enough to stop these\nfrom happening? Does God not care? Has God forsaken us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Churches as the house of God symbolize the inner sanctuary of our\nfaith. An attack on the Church means an attack on our cherished faith. If God\nallows His house to be humiliated, so God also allows our faith to be\nchallenged, shocked, and shaken. God allows trials to batter our lives, doubts\nto question our faith, and darkness to envelop our vision. But why? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the fire that burned the Church of Notre Dame was extinguished,\nmany things have been lost, but at the center of the Church, one image survived\nthe blazing fire: the huge cross stood still. God allows His houses destroyed,\nand our faith was shaken to show us what truly matters in life and our journey\nof faith. It is God and God alone. It is not so much the monuments we build for\nHim nor the works and mission for Him, even our talents, charism and fruits of\nprayers. These are surely important, but these easily vanish. Only one remains\nGod alone. God allows us to be shaken so we may find Him again, surprisingly\nmore alive and ever closer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
\nNovember 17, 2019
\nLuke 21:5-9<\/p>\n

During the reign of Herod the Great, the Temple of Jerusalem was refurbished, adorned by gold and other precious metals, and expanded, and thus making it the crown jewel of the Jewish nation. However, the Temple was not merely a magnificent building, but primarily the center of Jewish religious worship and religion. Every morning and evening, sacrifices were offered, and every year, Jewish men from all over the world made their pilgrimage, and paid their homage the Lord God. It was the place where God chose to stay, the place where the Israelites meet their God, and the house of God. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[57,58],"class_list":["post-8996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-renungan","tag-english","tag-sunday-reflection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8996"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8997,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8996\/revisions\/8997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}