Blessed Are They Who Dwell in Your House, O God
The setting for today’s 1st reading and the gospel is the Temple in Jerusalem. “How lovely is your dwelling place.” Hannah, a barren wife, pleads to God for a child, becomes pregnant and offers her son, Samuel, to God. Jesus, left behind in the Temple, is found listening and questioning the teachers.
Psalm 84 reminds that all of us are called to long for God. The psalm is one of joy and anticipation. Singing the psalm reminds us that the rhythm of our lives as Christians takes us into prayer and community for the sake of mission. Participation in the worshipping community gives us strength for discipleship and mission. Our joy in feeling the presence of God is the gift that we have to offer a hungry world.
Until the day of our death, our worshipping space is but a place of respite, a place to pause for the nourishment we need for the mission and journey. Our goal is to create a world where there is no need of a temple because all have learned to perceive God’s presence in all.
Your temple is my joy, O Most High God.
I am eager for it, eager for the courts of God.
My flesh sings its joy to the living God.
To live with you is joy, to praise you and never stop.
Those you bless with courage will bless you from their hearts.
Hear me, O God of hosts, heed me, God of Jacob.
God our shield, look, see the face of your anointed.
[verses adapted from The Psalter © 1995, Archdiocese of Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications.]