Do you not know that you are the temple of God
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
I Corinthians 3:16
Maybe you are old enough to remember the TV series, The
Incredible Hulk, or maybe you have seen the 2008 superhero film based
on the Marvel Comics character "The Hulk." The Incredible
Hulk tells the story of how Dr. Bruce Banner accidently gets infected in an experiment, supposedly to make humans immune to gamma radiation. In
actuality, it was a secret experiment to revive a World War II military
bio-force project to build super-soldiers. The experiment
fails, transforming Banner into the monstrous Hulk. Every time he gets angry, Banner
turns green, bulks up quickly, breaking out of his shirts and into a monster
muscleman, on a rampage to fight off all those who come after him.
Today Saint Paul reminds us of our own
"hulkness." We are reminded of the incredible power of God within
each one of us - a power that many of us do not even know about, a power that
many of us are afraid to embrace. It is the power of God living and breathing
within us as "temples of the Holy Spirit."
The readings, especially after Easter, are sprinkled
from beginning to end with the Greek word dunymis, from which
we get our word dynamite. We translate dunymis as power. Over
and over again, we read about cowardly disciples being turned into fearless
ambassadors for Christ - preaching, healing and going up against worldly powers
with nothing but their convictions - all under the power of the Spirit.
If you have been baptized and confirmed, you too are a
"temple of the Holy Spirit," saturated with some of the power of God
himself. God literally lives within you! Unlike the Incredible Hulk who was
only powerful physically, you are filled with incredible power to become
all that God has called you to be and with incredible power to help others be
all that God has called them to be.
Many of us, who were baptized as children and confirmed
as teenagers, either never understood the power we were given or have simply
forgotten about it or have failed to use it. Instead of using the powerful
force within us, we have, either by neglect or out of ignorance, become
"feverish, selfish little clods of grievances and ailment complaining the
world will not get together to make us happy." Instead of unleashing the
power that is within us, for our good and the good of others, we look around to
find someone to lean on, or be rescued by, because we feel them to be much more
powerful than we are!
Others of us are like the stewards who were entrusted
with talents by their master in the gospel. Out of fear, we buried our talents,
too scared to use the power within us. We are the people who get to the end of
our lives and realize that we have been cowards all along, blowing every
opportunity given us to use the power we had - all because we were full of
fear.
Marianne Williamson put it best when she said, "Our
deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are
powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens
us. You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There
is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure
around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We are born to make
manifest the glory of God within us. It's not just in some of us. It's in
everyone." I call the habit of saying "no"
to opportunities to grow and change “committing personal and spiritual suicide!”
Others of us squander this power because we are lazy.
Once we realize that we have God-given power within us, we know that we are
required to use it so, out of laziness, we bury it even from our own eyes. If
we can convince ourselves that we do not have such power, we are off the hook.
We don't have to do anything with it. We are the people who go through life
blaming others for our unhappiness and lack of personal
development.
Brothers and sisters! The whole point of Paul’s words
to us today is to remind us that, because of our baptisms and conformations,
you and I are very powerful. The problem is not whether we actually have this
power, but whether we have the courage and faith to tap into it and use it.
Sadly, our power is often hidden from our own eyes.
Throughout my childhood, I was taught that I was not only powerless, but
worthless. I was told regularly that I was a total screw-up who would never
amount to anything. Even the rector of the minor seminary said that I was "a
ball and chain around his leg for six years” in front of my
classmates. Even after I was ordained, a woman at my first Mass
reception told me that "with all that schooling, you could have been
something." The fact they told me that was not the problem, but
the fact that, for many years, I believed them! With the help of God, I finally
got in touch with the power of God within me. For that eye=opening grace, I am
eternally grateful. Looking back, I am amazed at what I have been able to do
with this power, once I discovered that it was there within me all along
and realized that God wanted me to invest this gift.
One of the tactics of spouse abusers is to get the
abused spouse to believe that she is powerless. The only way out of that
abusive situation is for the abused one to discover the power within them and to
stand up to the one who hopes to keep it hidden from them by his demeaning
words and actions. The trip to accepting and using our power can be arduous,
but it is well worth the risk.
Brothers and sisters, as a “temple of the Holy Spirit,”
you are powerful, powerful beyond measure! You may not feel it. You may not
have realized it yet. You may try to deny it to yourself and to others. You may
run from it out of fear. However, the fact remains that you are indeed powerful
and that you have been given a share of God's power for some benefit. You are an
ambassador for Christ. You are part of his body in the world! Face your power!
Accept your power! Use your power! To deny it, waste it or run from
it out of fear is one of the biggest sins you can commit as a baptized and
confirmed Christian!
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