Homily
for Tuesday
Week
5 of Ordinary Time
Feb.
10, 2026
1
Kings 8: 22-23, 27-30
Christian
Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.
In yesterday’s 1st reading,
Solomon moved the Ark of the Covenant from its tent in one part of Jerusalem
into the magnificent new temple he’d built for it (1 Kgs 8:4,6) and sacrificed “sheep
and oxen too many to count” (8:5) in honor of the Lord, and the Lord’s descended
upon the temple in the form of a cloud (8:10).
Solomon Plans the Temple
(Providence Lithograph Co.)
Today, Solomon prays for
himself and the people—a prayer of praise and gratitude (8:23), and a prayer of
petition for the temple: a prayer that
the Lord remain there amid his people (8:28-30). Implied is prayer that God protect the city
and the people by his presence. The
reading skips over Solomon’s prayer for the preservation of David’s dynasty
(8:24-26).
Solomon’s temple is long
gone. The temple of Zerubbabel and
Nehemiah, rebuilt by Herod in Jesus’ time, is long gone.
God replaced the Jerusalem
temple with his permanent presence in Jesus, of David’s lineage. He preserves thus not only the dynasty but
also the divine presence—no cloud needed.
God dwells in his Church on earth, in the Holy Eucharist, and in every
individual Christian on whom he’s conferred the Holy Spirit.
Made into living temples
by the Spirit, we pray that the Lord remain with us and in us, that he preserve
his people in holiness, and that he guide us to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the
eternal temple not built by hands (Heb 9:11), to worship him and thank him
forever.
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