9 November 1989
Cebu, Philippines

My dear Seminarians,

Man's urge to erect buildings for God has resulted in many edifices, from the Temple in Jerusalem to the colossal new Church, as big as St. Peter's, built by a President in Africa. The Temple in Jerusalem meant much to Mary and Joseph, for does not St. Luke remind us that they were accustomed to make the journey each year from Nazareth to Jerusalem? It must have meant much to Jesus as a boy. What young boy is not impressed by the great national monuments of his country and of its capital?

In his adult years the Temple was for Jesus not only the goal of many of his pilgrimages to the Holy City, but also the place where, as St. John notes, He so often gave expression to some of the most profound truths that mankind has ever heard. Yet, for all that, the Temple of Jerusalem was not to have for Jesus lasting significance. The time would come, as He predicted, when there would not be a stone left upon a stone of that building whose walls had heard the voice of the Son of God.

Let me speak to you of another shrine, not of stone and marble but of flesh and blood. Each one of us, who has been baptized, is a sanctuary. Before Christian churches were built and there were only ornate pagan temples to be seen in cities, St. Paul reminded those who had been baptized that they were temples. "Your body," he wrote, "is a temple of the Holy Spirit." (1 Cor 6:l9). Each of us is a sanctuary, prepared and decorated lovingly by God, so that our bodies could be the temples of the Holy Spirit. It is a truth of our faith that the Spirit of God lives within each of those who are His friends. The Spirit of God living within us is active and is prompting us all the time with ideas that will lead us to the truth, and suggesting to us ways in which we could manifest the love of Jesus Christ to the world.

One of the principal activities of the Spirit of God, living in the sanctuary of our body, is assisting us in prayer. "The Spirit, too, helps us in our weakness," wrote St. Paul, "for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be expressed in speech." (Rom 8:26). We cannot pray as we ought because we cannot see the future. We cannot see a year ahead or even an hour ahead. Left to ourselves, we might pray for things which would harm us ultimately, or fail to pray for things which would be for our good. So the Spirit of God is helping us to pray all the time. He does not force Himself upon us. Rather he is like a welcome guest in our homes. He will not intrude but is glad to help, when asked, with some task or other.

Not only does the Holy Spirit help us to pray as we ought but, in the words of St. Vincent de Paul, He gives to the person in whom He resides, "the same inclinations and dispositions which Jesus Christ had on earth and will make the person act in the same way, I do not say with the same perfection but, according to the measure of the gifts of this Divine Spirit." (Coste XII, Fr. ed., conf. 196, p. 108).

We are the shrines of the Holy Spirit, that same Holy Spirit Who entered into Mary at the Annunciation and brought about the conception of Jesus Christ, through Whom all things were made and through Whom all good things come to us.