Construction

Readings for Friday July 3, 2009

Feast of Saint Thomas, apostle

First Reading: Ephesians 2:19-22
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 117
Gospel: John 20:24-29


You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Eph. 2:19-22)

One of the things that always drives me nuts is when I am traveling somewhere and all of a sudden I hit a bunch of traffic all because of construction. This usually seems to occur when I am going to work, on my way to a meeting, or traveling out of town. While at the time I am certainly annoyed, you won't hear a single peep out of me when the construction is all finished. It is because afterwards the road or highway is now new and improved. The roads are smoother, lanes are wider, and fresh new paint clearly marks each lane. Many times when things cause interference or obstacles in our lives, we do not think about how when it is over we will come out better, we simply only think of how things are getting in our way right now.

Right now, the Lord is building all of us up, and He is working to make us all the persons that we were created to be. As Saint Paul says in today's first reading, "in Him you are also being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." Right now, the Lord is doing construction on all of us. We may be resistant to this construction at times, for it may be causing some delays to our own plans; or even some frustration at the process of building itself. But we must remember that God's plan is perfect, our plans are full of flaws and missteps. God may be building us up in areas that are unexpected or in areas that we believe are perfectly fine; but remember like the road construction that we see all around, we too will come out new and improved.

Let us have no fear about our own construction, for we are all being built on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ, the capstone. Let us all humble ourselves and allow God to continue to build us up into the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, from which the Spirit's gifts might flow freely through us.

Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth, we thank you and praise you for this day. Lord, soften us, like hardened clay that we might become exactly how you created us. Lord, form us around your son Jesus, so that we might be built upon the solid foundation of our Savior. Lord, help us to believe without seeing and to trust in you plan always. We ask this all through Christ our Lord. Amen.