We Are The Temples Of The Holy Spirit

I was pretty sick most of this past winter, and I’m happy to report that I am feeling a whole lot better.

There were days when I couldn’t find my energy. I’d like to say that I spent a lot of time praying and reading Russian novels, but that didn’t happen. My friend, Donna, counsels that we need to pray before we get sick because often, sickness takes so much out of us that we just can’t pray. That’s what I experienced, and I was so thankful for the faithful prayers of my family and friends.

So if I didn’t wrap myself up in the writings of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, what did I do? I watched a whole lot of TV. There’s some pretty good stuff on Amazon Prime; there are BBC shows and classic movies. Over on the cable channels, there is some wonderful TV as well. When I had exhausted those venues, I switched to the All-American stand-by: home decorating channels.

Here’s what I can tell you about them. No one is happy with what they have, house-wise; and everyone is an expert, decorating-wise. Nothing pleases anyone. That seems to be the requirement.

It’s a little disconcerting to switch from a channel featuring a show with people seriously fretting about not having granite countertops to the news channels, which are showing Syrian refugees living in tents. Pope Francis reminds us that “each of them” has a “name, a face, a story, an inalienable dignity which is theirs as a child of God.”

One afternoon, during this blur of television images, I had an “ah hah” moment. I was sitting in a comfortable chair in my home, a true mansion by refugee standards, when I realized that while my home houses me, my body houses the Holy Spirit. That’s what we know from reading 1 Corinthians 6: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you?”

Yes, I know it. I have heard those words for most of my life. Do I believe it? Yes. Do I live it? No.

Why not? Because I haven’t made those words my own. I am more ardent about my flower beds and my evening walks with my husband than I am about consciously living those words.

Those words have not become my treasure. It’s that simple. Matthew tells us “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

But what if they were my treasure? What if I lived each hour and each day embracing the magnificent truth that the Holy Spirit dwells within me?

Here is a beautiful guide to doing just that. It’s a prayer written by St. Augustine to the Holy Spirit:

Breathe into me, Holy Spirit,

that my thoughts may all be holy.

Move in me, Holy Spirit,

that my work, too, may be holy.

Attract my heart, Holy Spirit,

that I may love only what is holy.

Strengthen me, Holy Spirit,

that I may defend all that is holy.

Protect me, Holy Spirit,

that I may always be holy.