How is God asking us to rebuild in our lives and the world around us?
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This week, we pass the autumnal equinox on Sept. 22, after which the darkness grows. We also happen to spend the entire week reading about the rebuilding of the temple in ancient Jerusalem. I think it’s providential. It invites us to ask a question: How do we handle things when it seems the darkness around us is growing?
It’s easy to fall into complaining or to let our attention and energy be drawn by analyzing the darkness. That’s a skillful temptation, because there’s something true in it. (Remember: most temptations are at least half true!) Whether the darkness is physical, cultural or spiritual, it can and needs to be analyzed.
But the temptation is to stop there and let our energy be focused solely on the darkness. The invitation this week is to take the next step: to acknowledge the darkness, but to focus on rebuilding — to focus on where the light comes from.
In the context of ancient Judaism, this meant rebuilding the temple after the Babylonian exile. And, on one level, you’d think that project would be easy: Everyone would be in favor of it, right?
Wrong. There was both external and internal opposition to the project. We read about the external opposition in the book of Ezra: It came from those who didn’t want this symbol of national identity and strength rebuilt. They didn’t want Israel regaining its footing as a national player. We read about the internal opposition in the book of Haggai: It came from those who didn’t think the timing was right for a building project — though, as Haggai points out, they had no problem building their own houses!
We, too, are in a time of rebuilding. You might say the universal Church has been rebuilding a sense of the role of the laity since Vatican II. You might say the Church in the United States has been rebuilding a sense of integrity since the sexual abuse scandals. You might say the Church in the Archdiocese of St. Louis has been rebuilding a sense of evangelization since All Things New.
Fundamentally, I think that’s what the launch of the “Missionaries of Joy” program is about. As a joint project of the Augustine Institute and the parishes of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, it focuses some serious energy not simply on analyzing the darkness, but on growing the light. There’s an amazing number of people who come into our parishes every week — an enormous potential force for good! How do we train some of those people to go out with the joy of the Gospel? That’s a double attempt: an attempt to acknowledge and respond to the darkness and an attempt to stay focused on the light. We don’t need to think it’s perfect; no project is! But as a rebuilding project, it’s running on the right track.
There’s a historical fact in this week’s readings: God invited the ancient Israelites to overcome external and internal opposition and rebuild what was lost due to their own sin. That historical fact also represents a perpetual truth in the spiritual life: God invites us to do the same. So a good question for each of us this week might be: What rebuilding is God inviting me to undertake in my own life and to support in the world around me?
