In the “building of God” there is a place for every stone, even for the most misshapen one. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

In St Paul’s words, we are “God’s building”. We are the “temple of God” and the Spirit of God lives in us (1Cor, 7.16). St Peter continues to build on this likeness and writes that we are “living stones” of this spiritual house (1Pt., 2.5).

These are words that should be for us as easy to ingest as honey because, as previously God used to inhabit the Temple, now it pleased Him to erect His tent among us as a ‘people’.

Everything that among us is good, positive, beautiful and everything that gives a hint of love, compassion, generosity, all these are signs witnessing that God lives among us.

But which stones does the Builder use to erect this “building of God”? In view of the fact that our temples and churches are built with stones specially selected, polished and gilded – in other words with perfect stones – there may be someone who would despair of possibly being part of that “spiritual house” specifically because he is a chipped stone, put aside, perhaps even disfigured. Since, in the building craft, stones of this type are normally discarded, it is easy for a person that is defective or broken to think that there is no place for him in this temple or that he would be unaccepted. It is important that no one should feel that he is unwanted.

In this edifice there is a place for every stone, even for the most misshapen one. Had the Builder been a human being, then there would be good reason for us to lose hope but, fortunately, the builder is God.

Where are we to find the perfect stones?

He has the art and patience to work on a disfigured stone, clean it and find a suitable place for it.

As we said in the recent Synod, “it is necessary for us to accept all persons as they are in their actual life situation, to understand and evaluate what they are seeking, to encourage the desire for God and the will to feel in their totality as part of the Church, even those among them that suffered failure and are in the worst throes of despair. The Christian message always embodies the reality and dynamics of mercy and of truth that, in Christ, exist together” (Relatio Sinodi, 11).

In our lives as humans, there are various situations because of which we could have the complex of a stone that is stained and, thus, worthless.

In fact, a person could be convinced that there is no place for him in this spiritual house because of his particular belief or because he cannot be persuaded to give up his convictions. It is not easy for one to snap one’s fingers and see someone’s convictions disappear. How much patience one needs to manage, with the help of God’s grace, to change firmly-rooted convictions.

A person may feel that he is a second class stone if, in the past, s/he made a mistake and continues to carry the weight of this bad experience throughout life. This case typifies those who stubbed their toe once and continued to suffer the consequences. Tough we find it hard to forgive, God is different from us, because He never tires of forgiving.

A person can convince his self that he is a broken stone because his life is all broken. We are all aware of people whose life is in pieces. Who knows how they wished to join those fragments together but never succeeded.

So I am not surprised that persons with this sort of history find themselves so shattered that they think they are stones considered rejected, not only by society but also by God or by the people of the Church.

Another category of persons who consider themselves like discarded stones are those who experienced failure in their married life and in their family. Many of these people do want to form part of this spiritual building. They desire to fall in the hands of the Builder because they believe that, with His holy tools, He can help so that these spoiled stones could take a new form.

I know that these words irritate some who want this temple to be built with only perfect stones... but where are we to find these perfect stones?

Perhaps it would be correct to keep in our vision what we find in the scripture: “the stone that was rejected by the builders became the corner stone” (Mt. 21,42).

It is true that this applies to Jesus, who is the foundation stone of the new temple, but I feel that we can apply this line to each ‘living stone’ that finds itself abandoned and excluded from finding its place in the Church, that is “the temple of God”.

Perhaps we could end up astounded when our eyes open to the full truth and realise that it is those very discarded stones that God utilises to support “the spiritual house”. It is worth ruminating on St Paul’s words when he says: “whatever anyone builds on this foundation (Christ gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, everyone’s work will eventually be seen; the Day will show it” (1Corinthians 3,12).

It is a fact that, many times, when they are constructing, the builders bury the bad stones in the foundation. That way, the imperfect stones are hidden under the dust.

This means that the stones that were only suitable for throwing away become the stones on which the whole structure rests – “the stone that the builders rejected, became the corner stone”.

Who knows if, when we bury these “chipped stones” in the Church, we would not be inserting those stones that hold the building together – with prayers, with sacrifice, with penance, with the very same desire for them to unite with God.