「我的殿宇應是祈禱之所。」（依56:7；路19:46）
天主的殿宇在哪？在聖堂？在主教座堂？抑或是聖伯多祿大殿？既是，又不是。
那麼，好像斯德望所說的，聖殿不重要嗎（宗7:44-53）？不要忘記，為了這些言論，他成了第一個基督徒殉道者！
事實上，聖保祿曾教訓說：「難道你們不知道，你們的身體是聖神的宮殿…嗎？」（格前6:19）所以，我們的身體也是天主的殿宇。而且，聖保祿進一步教導說：「聖神也扶助我們的軟弱，因為我們不知道如何祈求纔對，而聖神卻親自以無可言喻的歎息，代我們轉求。」（羅8:26）因此，無論我們身在何方，去旅遊找不到天主教堂也好，或者身陷囹圄而不能參與主日彌撒也好，我們都是一座活動聖殿，可以隨時隨地，以心神和真理崇拜天主（若4:23-24）。藉著聖神的推動，我們便可以真實地崇拜天主，而不是進行一些繁文縟節；可以分享天主的生命，而不是在彌撒中納悶。
這些建築物固然是天主的殿宇，讓天主的子民聚集一起歌頌崇拜祂。但它們都是建築物，沒有人在其中時，甚至大部份的人都是遊客時，這些宏偉的建築物，祗亦不過石頭而已。正如【陋客銘】所說：「山不在高，有仙則名；水不在深，有龍則靈。斯是陋室，惟吾德馨。」是內涵決定一件事物的價值，是一個人的德行，讓「陋室」也可以成名。因此，最重要是建築物的內涵：就是在內裡活動的人！
聖殿是重要，但是我們不應依戀聖殿外表的宏偉，它祗不過是天主臨在的其中一個標記。斯德望祗是提醒他們，天主以不同的形式臨在他們當中，不一定局限在聖殿中。天主也臨在於聖殿之外。
聖神啊！請降臨到我心中，賜我渴求智慧、明辨是非、剛毅熱心，堅持到底，以獲得永生。亞孟。
This Modest Shack will Spread its Fragrance for My Virtues
"My house shall be a house of prayer." (Isaiah 56:7; Luke 19:46)
Where is the house of God? The church? The Cathedral? Or St. Peter's Basilica? Yes, and no.
Then is it true, like what Stephen claims, that the Temple is not important (Acts 7:44-53)? Don't forget, because of this view, he became the first Christian martyr!
In fact, St. Paul teaches that, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you?" (1 Corinthians 6:19) Thus, our bodies are also God's temples. Furthermore, St. Paul teaches, "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words." (Romans 8:26) Thus, wherever we are, on holidays and could not locate a Catholic church, or in prison and could not join Sunday masses, we are mobile temples which worship God with spirit and truth anytime anywhere (John 4:23-24). Through the moving of the Holy Spirit, we are able to worship God genuinely and not just going through the rubrics. We can partake in God's life and do not feel bored in mass.
Of course these buildings are God's houses in which the People of God gather and sing praises to worship Him. But these are only buildings. When nobody is inside or most people inside are tourists, these magnificent buildings are mere rocks! Just as a Chinese author wrote, "A mountain needs not be high. People will know it for its deities. A sea needs not be deep. People will worship it for its dragons. This modest shack will spread its fragrance for my virtues." (An Epigraph of a Modest Shack) It is the essence of a thing which decides its value. It is the virtue of a person that makes a modest shack famous. Thus, the most important essence of buildings is the people who interact in them!
The Temple was important but we should not indulge in her external magnificence. It was only one among the many signs of God's presence. Stephen reminded them that God lived among them in different forms, did not necessarily confine Himself within the Temple. God is present even outside the Temple.
Dear Holy Spirit! Come down upon our hearts. Give us the desire for wisdom, the discernment of truth, the fortitude of charity and the perseverance to the end in order to attain eternal life. Amen.
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