Day 14
Watching a home being built can be fun. Once the surveying is done, the excavating begins and then the foundation is poured. Once the foundation is poured, the walls are framed, the roof is completed. Once it is roughed in, then comes the windows, doors, rooms are dry walled and painted, floors are laid, fixtures and appliances are added. Finally people move into the home with their stuff. It is when the people move in that it finally seems like a home because there is life in it. There is something special about watching a home go up, but even more when the home is occupied.
Our bodies are to be temples (homes) of the Holy Spirit. At baptism this becomes a reality. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us. We have put on Christ in baptism. We become adopted sons and daughters. It is an amazing thing to think about, that God dwells in us when we have been baptized. “Baptism made us in very truth slaves of Jesus” (Preparation for Total Consecration, 56). We made a decision to let the Lord dwell in us, that we would serve God alone. (Remember yesterday, renewal of Baptismal Promises). “We must therefore live, work and die for the sole purpose of bringing forth fruit for him, glorifying him in our body and letting him reign in our soul” (Preparation for Total Consecration, 56). We want to make our temples solely temples for the Lord.
We may notice though that the Lord is not always the center of our lives. We probably notice that there are things that seem to be more important to us at times than God. “It is one thing to belong to Christ, and quite another to submit one’s will and desires to him” (Preparation for Total Consecration, 56). Thus, we need help to get rid of those desires, attachments and affections to sin that are a part of our lives. Think about it this way: our desires and affections for sin our like letting a thief continue to steal from us. What I mean is this: if someone kept robbing our homes, we would take measures to stop it. Well the Enemy is robbing us of what we should truly have in being Temples of the Holy Spirit. We need to get rid of what is robbing us so that we can be only a dwelling place of God. That is the aim of this Total Consecration.