Homily for Saturday of 20th Week of Ord. Time,
Yr. B./Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Fr. Udoekpo,
Michael
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Ezekiel 43:1-7ab
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Psalm 85:9ab, 10, 11-12,13-14
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Matthew 23:1-12
Mary, Exemplary
Channel of God’s Glory and Graces
Unlike the past two days when we had the memorial of
Saints Bernard and Pius X, today we celebrate the memorial of the Queenship of our
Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Christ. As instituted by Pope Pius XII in 1954,
this celebration commemorate Mary’s participation in the glorious and universal
Kingship of God, through her motherly participation and involvement in the
redemptive mission of Jesus Christ. In this feast, Mary is celebrated as the channel,
and the mediatrix of graces, protection, blessings and divine glory upon us.
It is this divine glory, the glory of God (kabod ădōnay)
that the Prophet Ezekiel celebrate in his vision of a new temple in today’s
first reading (Ezek 43:1-7ab). Don’t forget, the theology of the temple. Temple
was everything for Israel’s community of faith. It was a sign of God’s love,
blessings, protection and presence in their midst.
Although,
physically, statistically and in measurement Ezekiel’s newly reconstructed
temple will not match the first temple once destroyed. I mean the temple
imagined by David and completed by his Son Solomon in I Kings chapter 6.
Ezekiel message is a celebration of hope and fulfillment of God’s promises of
reestablishing, and rebuilding Israel and her temple. Today’s vision by Ezekiel
present him seeing the glory of the Lord, dancing, hovering over the corners of
the new temple. And he received the promise on behalf of Israel, that “this is
where my throne (God’s throne) will be.
You will recall in John 13-19 Jesus challenged those who
were abusing the temple. In that process and in verse 19, he reminded them “destroy
this temple, in three days I will raise it up.” He was referring to himself as
the temple of God, the dwelling place of the glory of God that Ezekiel saw in
his vision of the first reading.
The role of Mary, the Mother of Christ, in raising Jesus,
in protecting Jesus, in nurturing Jesus and in accompanying him through his
mission and was finally assumed body and soul to heaven, as we celebrated on
August 15, cannot never be overemphasized. She was pure , prudent, modest, humble, chaste and remained the temple of the Holy Spirit. In John 2 she interceded and there was wine in
Cana in Galilee. She is the source of grace for each of us, imitators of
Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, where God’s now dwells!
God’s temple, Christ, or of each of is not, and must not
be that pharisaic places of honor, of today’s gospel of Matthew 23:1-12, where
pride and empty externalism prevails. But, in God’s Temple, the Church of
Christ, our body is a sacred space, a holy place, a place of decency, love,
hope, fill with faith, optimism. Cleanliness, joy, purity, mercy seat, and
respect for the dignity of every human beings and other God’s creatures,
including the land, the dust (‘āphār), the soil (hā’ădāmâ) from which God
created human kind(ˊādām), as ably stressed by Pope Francis.
The Church founded by Christ, each of us in our
respective continents, countries, states, counties/local government area,
clans, towns, villages, stations-outreach, parishes, institutions, catholic schools,
universities, seminaries, religious communities and dioceses must be a living
example of the temple of God, where peace, dialogue, love, mercy, forgiveness
and the glory of God continues to dwell, especially in this difficult time of
covid-19 pandemic. We ask this through
the intercession of our Mother Mary, the channel and mediatrix of all graces
and divine glory!
Reflection Questions;
1.
Do we in humility see ourselves
always as the temple of the Holy Spirit?
2.
Do we trust and encourage others to
do so that God and his Glory is always with us?
3.
In what way have we ever defiled God’s
temple, the church or our bodies or the sacredness of life?
4.
How often do we promote or respect
the role of women in our society?
