I Will Build My Church

Sacred Scripture offers us a picture of the Church Jesus instituted. First, this sacred building would be built by Jesus Christ Himself. It would not be built like the Old Testament Temple with stones chiseled in Solomon’s quarries but rather as St. Peter told us, “like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition). Secondly, this new presence in our time/space world would have a foundation described as “ built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20). This new spiritual building would endure the test of time because of its foundation.

Historians inform us that this building seems to be severely tested every 500 years. The first time the Church was extremely tested was in the fall of Rome, the first 500-year period. It had a rebirth when great missionary disciples like Augustine in England and Patrick in Ireland spread the faith and risked everything for the Name. Then came a second “earthquake” around the year 1,000 with the Islamic invasions and the Great Schism of the Church in Constantinople in 1054. All seemed lost, yet the Holy Spirit raised saints like Francis and Dominic, Clair and Catherine of Sienna.

In the third 500-year period nuns and priests were defecting. Tetzel was selling indulgences and then came the reformers who began reforming the faith, and there was nothing wrong with the faith — it was the moral culture that needed to be reformed. Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross arose and saw what Jesus was building and became models of ancient spirituality.

Throughout the history of this New Testament building, as it is continually being built, scaffolding surrounds its structure. Scaffolding is only used in the construction of a building; it does not support the building, the foundation does. Once the building is complete, the scaffolding is taken down. It may come as a surprise to some of us that the building continues to stand after the Lord removes the scaffolding. Sometimes it is hard for us to remember that the building is beautiful and eternal because of Her Builder. The scaffolding that surrounds the building in every age and every culture is a construction filled with materials and workers, both righteous and unrighteous. These are part of the necessary scaffolding, which will eventually be removed. Scaffolding surrounds the Temple of the Lord and here now, after another 500 years, the Lord is removing the scaffolding.

Our calling now becomes ever so clear. If we allow history to inform us, we, like Augustine in England and Patrick in Ireland, must focus on going out as missionary disciples, to evangelize. Like St. Francis, we volunteer to become rebuilders and repairers. Like Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, we look through the scaffolding and see the beautiful Church Jesus Christ continues to build with Her spirituality restored. May we too, look at the building Jesus constructs and be ready to say, “yes” to the Master Builder!

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them” (Rev. 21:1-3).