66: This Little Child Is Our Temple

Saint John is his Gospel presents Jesus as our real Temple: “But the Temple he had spoken of was his Body” (John 2:21). The author of the Letter to the Hebrews mentions the same thing (see He 9). 

- What is a temple?

A temple is a place where we find three things: God, worshipers, and the action of worship.

A Temple is a privileged place, where one can meet God directly, where one can see Him, listen to Him and offer something to Him. A Temple is a place to dwell in, in order to get closer to God.

- Is it about any temple?

It is about the Temple of Jerusalem. In this Temple, God in person was dwelling and direct worship was possible.

- How the Temple of Jerusalem was made?

The Temple of Jerusalem is made at the image of the real Temple: Jesus. We see it first with Moses who is instructed to build the temple at the image of what he was offered to see in heaven (Exodus 25.9, 40 Acts 7:44, Hebrews 8:5). “Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” (He 8:5)

Saint Paul says that God saw us in Him, conceived us in His Thoughts, before creation. “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight, in love” (Ephesians 1:4). We can say that God saw His Body, His Temple, from all Eternity, before Creation.

We can then say the following: when God sent us His Son He sent us our Temple.

This little baby (born in the manger) is your Temple, the place where you are invited to dwell, for the rest of your life and for all your eternity.

This means that when we stop like the Magi in front of the little boy, in the arms of his mother, we should be able to see much more than a simple baby.

How can we have this deeper vision, this penetration in the mystery of this little boy? We really need the Holy Spirit in order to “see” in Him our own final dwelling place.

How many times saint Paul uses the word “in Christ”! In fact we need to be “in Christ”, to dwell “in Him”.

Thank you dear God, because you opened for us your Home... You want us to dwell in You. You sent us our Temple, our final Mansion. This is such an amazing Gift, an amazing plan for each one of us!

The Magi saw deeper in this little baby. Therefore they offered Him:

Gold: all the utensils in the Temple that dealt with God were made in Gold. The little boy is God, being THE Temple, God dwelt in Him.

Incense: the worship, praise, adoration and sacrifice in the Temple are carried with incense, symbol of the prayer that ascends to God.

Myrrh: relates to the victim that is offered to God: the body and soul of Jesus, our real Temple.

I invite you to meditate and ponder (spend time) on the fact that, through the Incarnation, God, in the little Child Jesus God, is offering us our House and our Temple.

"Blessed are those you choose

and bring near to live in your courts!

We are filled with the good things of your House,

of your holy Temple."

(Psalm 65:4)

Yes, in Jesus, this little baby, we find plenty of "good things", we find all what we need. Here is a wonderful passage taken from saint John of the Cross, second book of the Ascent of the Mount Carmel. In the following amazing and unique passage, saint John of the Cross makes God the Father speak to each one of us who is seeking consolation, light, guidance and happiness:

"If I have spoken all things to thee in My Word, Which is My Son, and I have no other word, what answer can I now make to thee, or what can I reveal to thee which is greater than this? Set thine eyes on Him alone, for in Him I have spoken and revealed to thee all things, and in Him thou shalt find yet more than that which thou askest and desirest. For thou askest locutions and revelations, which are the part; but if thou set thine eyes upon Him, thou shalt find the whole; for He is My complete locution and answer, and He is all My vision and all My revelation; so that I have spoken to thee, answered thee, declared to thee and revealed to thee, in giving Him to thee as thy brother, companion and master, as ransom and prize. For since that day when I descended upon Him with My Spirit on Mount Tabor, saying: "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him" (Mt 17:5), I have left off all these manners of teaching and answering, and I have entrusted this to Him.

Hear Him; for I have no more faith to reveal, neither have I any more things to declare. For, if I spake aforetime, it was to promise Christ; and, if they enquired of Me, their enquiries were directed to petitions for Christ and expectancy concerning Him, in Whom they should find every good thing (as is now set forth in all the teaching of the Evangelists and the Apostles);

but now, any who would enquire of Me after that manner, and desire Me to speak to him or reveal aught to him, would in a sense be asking Me for Christ again, and asking Me for more faith, and be lacking in faith, which has already been given in Christ; and therefore he would be committing a great offence against My beloved Son, for not only would he be lacking in faith, but he would be obliging Him again first of all to become incarnate and pass through life and death. Thou shalt find naught to ask Me, or to desire of Me, whether revelations or visions; consider this well, for thou shalt find that all has been done for thee and all has been given to thee - yea, and much more also - in Him.

6. If thou desire Me to answer thee with any word of consolation, consider My Son, Who is subject to Me, and bound by love of Me, and afflicted, and thou shalt see how fully He answers thee.

If thou desirest Me to expound to thee secret things, or happenings, set thine eyes on Him alone, and thou shalt find the most secret mysteries, and the wisdom and wondrous things of God, which are hidden in Him, even as My Apostle says: "In this Son of God are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge of God" (Col 2:3). These treasures of wisdom shall be very much more sublime and delectable and profitable for thee than the things that thou desiredst to know. Herein the same Apostle gloried, saying: That he had not declared to them that he knew anything, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Co 2:2) And if thou shouldst still desire other Divine or bodily revelations and visions, look also at Him made man, and thou shalt find therein more than thou thinkest, for the Apostle says likewise: "In Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col 2:9)." (Ascent of Mount Carmel, II,5-6)

The Jerusalem Temple, made at the image of Jesus
and how we enter in Him until we reach His Divinity.