Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today, the fourteenth day of February marks the anniversary of the Dedication or Consecration of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, the Mother Church of the Archdiocese of Singapore, which was dedicated in the Year of Our Lord 1897, about five decades after it was originally built and established as the first church in the land of Singapore. This year, it has been a hundred and twenty-eight years since its original Consecration as mentioned, and also eight years since it has been rededicated in the Year of Our Lord 2017 after the latest round of major restoration and renovation, bringing back the glory and the glamour in this great House of God, restored and renovated for the glory of God and for the good of the flock of the Lord in Singapore.
Now, as we all rejoice in the anniversary of the dedication of our Mother Church in Singapore, let us all spend some time to reflect upon the messages of the Sacred Scriptures that we have received today, which reminds us all of the significance of this Dedication of the Cathedral, as with the dedication of any other churches, the places which had been set aside for the purpose of sacred use and the worship of the Divine. All of us have to be aware that the celebration of the Holy Mass has to be done in a place that has been blessed and also dedicated to God, upon the Altar that had been dedicated and reserved for the sole use of Sacred and Divine Worship, which happened during the Dedication of this great House of God.
In our first reading today, we heard the customary reading from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel used for the dedication of churches, detailing the heavenly vision of the prophet Ezekiel who saw the great Temple in Heaven, the Temple of the Lord’s Holy Presence, from which came forth the spring of life-giving water, and the figure of a Son of Man Who guided him throughout the Temple, which was a prefigurement of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man. This Holy and great Temple of God in Heaven is the model upon which all of our churches, God’s House in this world have been modelled upon, all consecrated and dedicated to the Lord, to be the same representation of the perfect Temple of God’s Holy Presence in Heaven, which has come into our midst, as God came to dwell among us.
As we all come to the churches, to come to worship and glorify the Lord, it reminds us all to come forth to God’s Holy Presence, seeking His love, kindness and mercy, while distancing ourselves from all sorts of wickedness and evils, keeping ourselves holy and worthy in all things. That is why each and every one of us are reminded to keep the sanctity of God’s House, to be at our best whenever we come to the Holy Mass and any other celebrations and liturgical events taking place in our churches, including in this Cathedral which dedication anniversary we are celebrating today. If we profane the sanctity of the Lord’s Holy Temple, then we will be made accountable for this act, and we will be judged and found wanting for this action that is unbecoming of us all as Christians.
Then, in our second reading passage today, we listened to the words of St. Paul the Apostle in his Epistle to the Church and the faithful in the city and region of Corinth where he spoke of the nature of all of us, the faithful people of God, as God’s Holy Temples, how our bodies and our whole beings are truly the Temples of His Holy Presence, the Temples of His Holy Spirit, and therefore all of us must always strive to keep ourselves holy and free from sin, or else, again, the sin of us having defiled the sanctity of this Temple of God, that is our own body, heart, mind and soul, our whole beings, will eventually fall upon us and we will have to account for our failure to keep this sanctity and purity of our bodies, our minds, hearts and souls, which God had graced upon and dwelled within.
Each and every one of us have received God Himself in the flesh, first of all through the life that God has given to each and every one of us, the Holy Spirit that He has given to us, dwelling within us, and the gift of the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, where the gifts of the Holy Spirit were affirmed in us, and through which we have been strengthened by God’s Spirit and Presence. And then, not only that, but through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, and as we all believe firmly that the Lord is truly and really present in the Eucharist, in our faith in the Real Presence and the Dogma of Transubstantiation, we believe that the Lord Himself, Who has made Himself available in His Most Precious Body and Blood, has come into us, through the Holy Eucharist that we have received and partaken at the Holy Mass.
Therefore, it is important that each and every one of us as Christians must realise that we have to keep ourselves truly holy and worthy in everything that we say and do, or else, we have to account for our failures to do so. In our Gospel passage today, the Lord Jesus showed this by example, as He angrily cast out all those merchants, money changers and others peddling their businesses at the courtyard of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. First of all, the context of this event and the presence of those businesses were made necessary due to the many Jewish people which at that time had been living far away from the land of Israel, and since they would come to visit Jerusalem during festivals like the Passover, they would have to exchange the money and coins they brought from the lands they dwelled in for the coins issued by the local Temple authority, as foreign coins were considered unclean. And they would have to use those good and worthy Temple coins to buy the sacrifices to be offered to God.
However, what the Lord Jesus found issue with was the rampant practice of corruption and overcharging, where the pilgrims and many others coming to the Temple were overcharged for the services that those money changers and merchants did, and those people earned a lot from this practice. It was those immoral actions and behaviours, which were not allowed even according to the Law of God revealed through Moses, that led to the Lord Jesus to drive away all those merchants and money changers. The Temple officials and the chief priests had been turning a blind eye to those wicked actions because they themselves likely profitted from such activities as well, and therefore, the Lord also told them all as we heard, that the magnificent Temple which they had at that time, none of that would remain standing in just another few decades, as it would be destroyed by the Romans approximately four decades later.
What the Lord also wanted us all to remember is that this Temple of God is truly not just limited to any particular building. Yes, we designate and honour certain places and also this Cathedral of the Good Shepherd as God’s Holy House in this world, but even more importantly, the whole Church itself, the Body of Christ, the unity of all Christian believers are also where God is present and where He dwells in amongst us. Hence, as Christians, it is important that all of us strive to continue living our lives worthily and to continue to do our best in being the ‘living stones’ of God’s Holy Temple, to be good and faithful stewards and caretakers of this world that God has entrusted to us. Let us all also be active in our participation in the Holy Mass and in other events of the Church, and maintain always the sanctity of our churches and also our bodies, hearts, minds and souls as God’s Holy Temple in this world.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore as God’s faithful people in the Archdiocese of Singapore continue to do our best in all the things that we do in our everyday living, so that we may truly be evangelistic, missionary and faithful disciples of the Lord at every moments, doing our best to proclaim the Lord and His truth in everything that we say and do in our lives. Let us all be good examples and inspirations for the brothers and sisters in our midst so that together we may build the Living Church of God with Jesus Christ our Lord as its Head and founded upon the faith of the Apostles, and also our faith, which are the stones making up this Living Church of God. May God be with us always, and may He bless us all and all the churches in the world, particularly the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, the great Mother Church of the Archdiocese of Singapore. Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 