Joshua 24:14-29 / Matthew 19:13-15
It has been said that the church is not just a building made of stone walls.
The church is made of living stones, because we are the people of God, we are the Church.
The building is only a sign and a place for worship. Nonetheless the building is significant.
Because when the building is destroyed, the people lose their focus. Just like how the enemies destroy the Temple in Jerusalem when they overran the Israelites.
Also these stone walls bear silent witness to the life and the worship of the church community.
Even in the 1st reading, we heard how Joshua took a great stone and set it in the sanctuary of the Lord and said that this stone will be the witness to the covenant between the Lord and His people.
As we reflect deeper about this, we are also reminded that our home is not just a house with stone walls.
We, the family members, make it a home as well as a dwelling place for God, a mini sanctuary of the Lord.
The home is a house of blessings and a house of prayer. Hence we must teach our children to pray and also to bless them whenever they go off or when they come back.
Like what Jesus did in the gospel, we can just lay our hands on their heads or just make the sign of the cross on their foreheads.
Let us make our house a home of love and blessings. Otherwise it is just a house of stones.