Pilgrimage Sites are NOT Tourist Spots

I feel very sad when people take photos inside the Church regardless whether the mass is going on or not. Equally unfortunate when people take photos infant of the Sanctuary as if the the Altar is a tourist spot, as if the Altar is nothing but an empty space, devoid of meaning and of sanctity. Similarly, I feel bad when I see people taking photos with the background of a statue of the Blessed Mother or any saint and post them online as if they are mannequins or standee or mascots.

People today, myself included for a lot of times have lost or have a less sense of the Sacred, treating everything usual as the other things. It can be blamed to the poor catechism, or our inability to make a distinction between a tourist spot or a pilgrimage site. A tourist spot is a popular place where commerce and tourism thrive. A pilgrimage site is place of prayer, a sacred space to connect with God. Churches are not supposed to be tourists spots but pilgrimage sites.

In our place in Bantay Ilocos Sur, we pride on our beautiful antique bell tower built in 1590, almost 5 hundred years old. It is special because of its brown bricks walls, and that it sits on a hill apart from the Church. This makes the tower a scenery. It was used as a watch tower during the wars, and from this came the name of our town Bantay. Historians claim that it where Diego Silang and Gabriella Silang dated and hatched the plan for an Ilocano uprising. Now because of the scenery and rich history, tourist flock to take pictures of the tower BUT NOT INTEND TO GO INSIDE THE CHURCH TO PAY A VISIT.

The Lord reminds us today of exactly this. His house including the bell towers are the house of the Father, and any business apart from the business of the Father is totally off. When we come here, or to any church our business should only be prayer and prayer alone. Exceptional cases of course when we do it artistically and for the purpose of evangelization but outside these intentions, taking picture inside the church, infront of the altar is a mild form of disrespect to the sanctity of the place. In such, we are not doing the business of the Father but we are doing it for likes, and possibly for self-aggrandizement.

Let us be reminded of the sanctity of each church. May we who heard the proclamation today be different from the mound. May we be the better ones who acknowledge meanings and sanctity. May we recognize and discriminate the business of the Father, from the mundane business. And may we find God both I the Church and inside us, for we too are the temples of the Holy Spirit.

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READINGS

First Reading: 1 Mac 4:36-37,52-59

Judas and his brothers said, “Now that our enemies have been crushed, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and rededicate it.” So the whole army assembled, and went up to Mount Zion. Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, that is, the month of Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight, they arose and offered sacrifice according to the law on the new altar of burnt offerings that they had made. On the anniversary of the day on which the Gentiles had defiled it, on that very day it was reconsecrated with songs, harps, flutes, and cymbals. All the people prostrated themselves and adored and praised Heaven, who had given them success. For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar and joyfully offered burnt offerings and sacrifices of deliverance and praise. They ornamented the facade of the temple with gold crowns and shields; they repaired the gates and the priests’ chambers and furnished them with doors. There was great joy among the people now that the disgrace of the Gentiles was removed. Then Judas and his brothers and the entire congregation of Israel decreed that the days of the dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness on the anniversary every year for eight days, from the twenty-fifth day of the month Chislev.

Responsorial Psalm: 1 Chr 29:10,11,11-12,12

R./ We praise your glorious name, O mighty God. “Blessed may you be, O LORD, God of Israel our father, from eternity to eternity.” R./ We praise your glorious name, O mighty God. “Yours, O LORD, are grandeur and power, majesty, splendor, and glory. For all in heaven and on earth is yours.” R./ We praise your glorious name, O mighty God. “Yours, O LORD, is the sovereignty; you are exalted as head over all. Riches and honor are from you.” R./ We praise your glorious name, O mighty God. “You have dominion over all, In your hand are power and might; it is yours to give grandeur and strength to all.” R./ We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.

Gospel Reading: Lk 19:45-48

Jesus entered the Temple area and began to drive out the merchants. And he said to them, "God says in the Scriptures: My house shall be a house of prayer: but you have turned it into a den of robbers." Jesus was teaching every day in the Temple. The chief priests and teachers of the Law wanted to kill him and the elders of the Jews as well, but they were unable to do anything, for all the people were listening to him and hanging on his words.