Monday Lent Three

“Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’ For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever.”

Jeremiah 7, Monday Lent Three, the Reading, the Daily Office Book, Year One

It is not enough for me to say I am God’s child, or as Paul did, declare my body to be the temple of God. I must live as Christ’s own. I must live as compassionately as possible. My declaration of being God’s child through Christ is my stated intention, but I must breathe life into my intention, as Spirit breathes life into me. I must pursue the realization of my intention, rather than “to go after other gods to (my) own hurt”, the things which cause me suffering or which come between me and you, between us and God. What are these things which come between me and the sacred space? In the course of life, with prayer, spiritual direction and discernment, they become known and then can be treated honestly, "in spirit and in truth." Yet, regardless of where I am in the journey I still can maintain my intention of compassion so that then I better honor the sacred space between us, between our needs,  and acknowledge God dwelling with us.