Post-Vatican 2, we seemed to have created a chasm, a divide between the building, a sacramental icon, from the people and view the congregation as more important than the building itself. But buildings are alive especially when people occupy them. An unused building is just one that has never been used. Whereas a disused building brings up a different connotation, that a building that was once alive is now dead or dying. The tendency to downgrade sacred buildings is done without realising that both the edifice and the people are connected. Perhaps there is link between the restoration of the Notre Dame and the increase in the number of baptisms especially of young people.
The flow of the Readings and Gospel makes this clear. The 1st Reading gives a description of the physical place where the Ark rested. It is a building; a temple filled with God’s glory. However, the 2nd Reading shifts God’s physical temple into our bodies, into the faithful congregation. We are now the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Imagine that. A building houses the Spirit of God and the people are also houses of the Spirit of God. Finally, the Gospel redirects our attention to heaven where there will be no need of temples of buildings or bodies because we are already beholding God Himself.
This Cathedral was erected some 45 years ago and today it is our 44th anniversary. The walls, the altar and the whole building were consecrated to God. In the past, buildings were meant to stand the test of time. Today, sadly so, buildings seem to have an expiry-date built into them. Look at Coronation Park. Once completed the erected towers will gleam and exude newness. Give it 20 years and it will not radiate a sense of timelessness. Instead it will just simply look tired and ugly. Structures built to last send a message of assurance and dependability. What this Cathedral has retained is its structure or skeleton, almost intact. The rest is just the augmentation and beautification. The originality can be observed in the 12 lit candles on the wall.
Following the readings and seeing the lit candles we get a sense of what a Sacrament is. Outward sign of inward grace. The twelve consecration candles around the Cathedral are lit as they should be each time we celebrate the anniversary of her dedication. From this year onwards, as long as I am the parish priest, the candles will be lit, altogether 5 times a year. Apart from the anniversary of the dedication, they will be lit at the Easter and Pentecost Vigils, at the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and at the Christmas midnight Mass. They serve to remind us that not only was the Cathedral set apart, consecrated, made holy as a place where heaven and earth meet but the lit candles remind us also of a profound reality: Through our baptism, we have been consecrated, set apart, and given the light of Christ to carry into the world.
Both the building and the people are central to our understanding of the Church as the Body of Christ. Since we gather at the Cathedral, we must find a way to make our Cathedral truly shine forth with the light Christ. Firstly, the building should breathe not just with practicality but it should exude beauty. If the restoration of the Notre Dame has something to teach us, it is that our Cathedral should be a living building. Living and breathing Christ’s presence. That means the people inside should be the breath of the Spirit alive through us.
Start with simple realities. The pews. People are scratching and leaving their graffities there. The toilets. They are new but already there are complaints how dirty they are etc. We look after our personal belongings, right? Maybe start with the idea that this is our personal pew or toilet even though they are publicly used. When a public area is viewed as a private space, people tend to more care into it. A good example is in the many Tamans we have. Sometimes a house owner takes care of the area outside his or her house by cultivating the small area with vegetables etc. That public space, or garden plot or fruit orchard, becomes beautiful because there is personal touch to it. It is that personal investment that we should bring into the Cathedral. After Mass, watch out for used tissue paper. Yes, we have a team of people who clean the place. But the volunteers are human beings, he or she is someone’s daughter or father. They are neither servants nor slaves. When you deal with your loved ones, do you throw rubbish for them to pick up? No. If you can think that the lady who cleans the pews is your mother, you might be less inclined to leave your used tissue in the pews.
When we say that the soul is the Temple, it just means the Cathedral is truly a sacred space. If our bodies are set apart for God, nothing should soil the soul. Likewise, the Cathedral space. Every time we see these walls, every time we admire the stained glass or hear the echoes of chants, we should remember that these things are signs pointing us back to the real temple: Christ dwelling in His people. Let us continue to grow as a people of grace, inside and outside. Most especially with care for our interactions with the inhabitants in this Taman.
In driving the money-changers out of the Temple, Christ challenged them to tear down the Temple so that He can rebuild it in three days. He was referring to Himself as the Temple. Our Lord is our new and true Temple. The Cathedral is a sacrament pointing us to the eternal place where Christ will be reunited fully with His Body the Church. Through Baptism, we are grafted into His body. Through the Eucharist, His life flows into ours so that we can be the living stones of His Temple.
As we give thanks for forty-four years of grace in this parish, for the sacraments celebrated here, for the community built up here, for the prayers offered here, we recommit ourselves to being the true temple, the people of God, consecrated, filled with His Spirit, built upon the foundation of Christ. These consecration candles that burn today remind us that once a baptismal candle was lit for us, and that we are called to keep its flame alive until the day Christ welcomes us into His eternal temple in heaven.
