True beauty

The gospel passage we have heard today is set within the walls of the Temple in Jerusalem.  Jesus was there and heard some of the people who were there speaking about the physical beauty of the building: how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings (Lk 21:5).  The construction of the Temple had taken more than 25 years and was still not complete.  It had been built as a monument to the presence of God.  Seeing it's grandeur, people would admire its beautiful walls, it's magnificent lights, its décor ... not unlike the way that we might admire an imposing Basilica or Cathedral today.

As a kind of commentary about the remarks he was hearing, Jesus said to those around him: All that you see here - the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down (Lk 21:6).  Using the physical surroundings as a metaphor for his wisdom, Jesus wanted to caution his listeners against putting too much trust in visible and tangible objects of beauty.  He was not admonishing them for admiring the Temple's beauty, but rather trying to teach them that we should not allow such physical beauty to blind us to the presence of God who is the creator of all things, including the beautiful ones.

Such warnings were not new, even in the time of Jesus.  Many years prior, the prophet Malachai had warned: the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble (Mal 3:19).  In today's language, he was warning his listeners not to rely on things that they could see and touch, because all physical things can be destroyed, and no amount of physical possessions can ever truly respond to the desires of the human heart.

This wisdom that has been repeated by both the prophet and Jesus has continued to echo throughout the centuries.  It is just as valid today as it was then, yet we can still find ourselves falling victim to the temptations to become mesmerized by physical beauty, even to the point where we are blinded to the true beauty of love.

Saint Paul offers the example of his own life as a way that we can work at modelling our lives after the true beauty that God has to offer.  He says: in toil and drudgery, we worked, so as not to burden any of you ... so that we could present ourselves as a model for you (2 Thes 3:8-9).  Like Paul, we should endeavour to work constantly at building the temple of God's people, a temple that defines its beauty not in stones, mortar and jewels but rather in identifying the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of our age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, so that we can in turn make these same joys and hopes, griefs and anxieties our own (cf Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et Spes, 1).  By drawing close to God's people, we in turn will discover more profoundly the true beauty of being called his disciples.