Living Stones in the New Jerusalem

God’s plan was never meant to remain in one city or with one people. It was always intended for the whole world.

In the Old Testament, the prophets foretold a day when all nations would come to worship the one true God. They envisioned Jerusalem not only as a place of worship, but also as a source of deep comfort. As Isaiah says, like a mother nursing her child. The city symbolized the closeness and mercy of God.

What they could not yet see was that this Jerusalem would become something far greater than stone and walls. Its meaning would be fulfilled in the Church, the New Jerusalem, built not from bricks but from living stones. In her, God gathers a people from every nation and every tongue. As the psalmist proclaims: “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy!”

Why do we speak of the Church as the New Jerusalem? Because, as Saint Peter tells us, we are being built into a spiritual house, not with dead stones but with living ones. The old temple was the dwelling place of God in a limited and symbolic way. But now, through Christ, God truly dwells in us. The Church is His temple. The Spirit of God lives in the Church and in each of her members.

The Holy Spirit is like the soul of the Church. Just as our souls give life to our bodies, the Spirit animates and sanctifies the Church, making us the Body of Christ. This is not just a metaphor, but a mystical and real truth. We are the Body of Christ and we worship as members of that Body, united to our Head.

This mystery comes into focus most powerfully in the Mass. There, heaven touches earth. The Church, the Body of Christ, gathers to worship the Lamb of God. We adore the true Body of Christ, sacramentally present in our midst. We do not worship from afar but as children in the house of our Father.

How do we know this has come to pass? Because Jesus sent His disciples to proclaim it. They went out to gather a people for the Lord, announcing the Good News: The kingdom of God is at hand! They rejoiced at the power given to them. Even the demons obeyed. But Jesus reminded them of the deeper truth: it is not power that matters, but grace. The true miracle is that God’s love has been poured into our hearts. Now, by the Spirit, all people can love God and neighbor.

That is our only boast. Not power, not success, but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through it, we are crucified to the world and born into new life. Christ has made us temples of His Spirit, sons and daughters of the Most High.

To be a son means to be an heir. Through Jesus, the eternal Son who became man, we are adopted into the divine family. We inherit the promises God made from the beginning: union with Him, life in the Spirit, and joy that never ends.

And this is no mere poetic image. As the Church Fathers taught, the Son of God became man so that we might become sons of God. Christ, the eternal Son, took on our humanity so that we could share in His divinity. Through Him, we are adopted, transformed, and made heirs of His promise.

We are not only called to enter the New Jerusalem. We are called to help build it. In every Mass, heaven touches earth. We gather around the Lamb, worshipping not from afar but as beloved children in our Father’s house. And like the seventy-two disciples, we are sent to bring that joy to others. We find comfort in Jerusalem, but we also carry that comfort into the world.

This is what it means to be Christian: to be united with Christ, filled with the Spirit, and sent into the world as witnesses. We are not only comforted in the New Jerusalem. We are sent from it. The mission of the Church is to invite all people into that communion, that worship, that divine adoption.

So we boast in nothing but the Cross. For through it, God has made all things new. Even us.

How are you helping to build the New Jerusalem in your daily life, and where might God be calling you to carry His comfort into the world today?