Nov92025
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Build to Last

My father is a builder. All my uncles are builders. My cousins are builders. Their kids are all builders, and my brothers are builders. So, I know something about building. I often tinker around the shrine, and one day I discovered that the foundation is three and a half feet wide. If you used a wrecking ball, you would have to replace the wrecking ball. Why is the foundation so massive? They built the church to last.

When I first came to St. Clement, there was an electronic organ. It had some problems, and most of the parts were discontinued. I replaced that twenty-year-old organ with a one-hundred-year tracker pipe organ. Why would I buy an older organ? It was built to last.

So, let me ask you, how many of us drive a car that was built a hundred years ago? How many of us use a telephone that was made fifty years ago? How many of us watch a TV that was made in the forties? Nobody, because most of the things we buy are not made to last; they are made for the moment. Of course, we prefer the latest and newest to use now. We also tend to live life in the moment. Yet, Paul is asking us to build our lives to last. How does one do that? We build ourselves into a temple. It is easy. Can we all agree that we love to be with generous people? We are always saying “thank you.” We love humble people. They know how to laugh at themselves, and they are fun to be with. We love being with people who know how to communicate effectively. They know how to affirm and appreciate us. We love people who put others before themselves, making sacrifices for the benefit of others. We love to be with people with these qualities, and so does God. When we package all of this, we build a temple, a place where God wants to be all the time.

One building tip from St. Paul. We do not build from scratch. God provides the foundation, and it is massive; we have to make sure we build to last.

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