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St Paul writes, \u201cYou are God\u2019s building\u2026do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?\u201d<\/p>\n

The teaching functions on several levels. You and I as individuals are the temple of the Holy Spirit\u2013God\u2019s beautiful building. Each part of us\u2013every physical part, but also every thought, every idea, every prayer, every memory is a part of the whole building. However, the church is also the Body of Christ, so the metaphor of the temple also applies to the whole community. Each one of us are \u2018living stones\u2019 as St Peter says, built up as a spiritual temple.<\/p>\n

All of this imagery combines on this feast of the Dedication of St John Lateran. Here is the mother church of the whole Church\u2013the cathedral church of the Bishop of Rome. Here is the church that reminds us that every church is a glorious temple and dwelling place for the Son of God, and that as such we too are meant to be glorious temples to the living God.<\/p>\n

See how banal, barren and brutal all of this imagery is when our churches have become utilitarian auditoria\u2013bare Protestant preaching barns\u2013cheap and nasty warehouses to have Mass in? What does this modern, utilitarian architecture say about your spiritual life and mine? It makes prayer and the life of sanctity to be a barren, utilitarian thing\u2013lacking all beauty and mystery and grace.<\/p>\n

And what is utilitarianism except a harsh heresy\u2013a crude religion of works\u2013for the creed of the utilitarian is, \u201cIf it works it\u2019s good\u201d which is another way of saying \u201cI believe in good works.\u201d A utilitarian church building cannot speak of the grace of beauty or the absurd extravagance of worship. It cannot speak of the mystery of God\u2019s love poured out in beautiful abundance in the world or the strange shadow and light of God\u2019s providence and grace.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just a big boxy room where you can seat a lot of people, where you make sure the air conditioning works and the sound system works, and then you put some pretty stuff in it because Catholic churches are supposed to be pretty.<\/p>\n

Instead let us build beautiful churches, churches, that like St John Lateran take centuries to complete and beautify\u2013churches that reflect the work of grace in our lives and the fact that I too long to be a beautiful temple\u2013in which every part of me has been transformed and glorified by grace\u2013a life that people behold\u2013like they behold the work of St John Lateran\u2013and say, \u201cThat\u2019s beautiful!\u201d<\/p>\n

PS: If you want an update on the beautiful church we are planning to build in Greenville, South Carolina in the heart of the Bible belt\u2013 go here.<\/a>\u00a0You can also read there my archived articles on architecture.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"