The Marble Faun was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in 1860. The setting is Rome, and Hawthorne did such a remarkable job of describing locations in the city that it became somewhat of a travel guide. One of those settings is the catacombs below the city, where we hear of the legend of Memmius.
Hawthorne writes, “This man, or demon, or man-demon, was a spy during the persecutions of the early Christians, probably under the Emperor Diocletian, and penetrated into the catacomb of St. Calixtus, with the malignant purpose of tracing out the hiding-places of the refugees. But, while he stole craftily through those dark corridors, he chanced to come upon a little chapel, where tapers were burning before an altar and a crucifix, and a priest was in the performance of his sacred office. By divine indulgence, there was a single moment’s grace allowed to Memmius, during which, had he been capable of Christian faith and love, he might have knelt before the cross, and received the holy light into his soul, and so have been blest forever. But he resisted the sacred impulse. As soon, therefore, as that one moment had glided by, the light of the consecrated tapers, which represent all truth, bewildered the wretched man with everlasting error, and the blessed cross itself was stamped as a seal upon his heart, so that it should never open to receive conviction.
“Thenceforth, this heathen Memmius has haunted the wide and dreary precincts of the catacomb, seeking, as some say, to beguile new victims into his own misery” or, even better, seeks to find someone to take him by the hand and lead him from the darkness into the light, knowing that he will eventually turn on them and bring new kinds of misery on the world.
Jesus said, “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.” (Matthew 12:43-45)
Memmius had within him a spirit of persecution. When he saw the light of the candles and the celebration of the Holy Mass, that spirit was driven from him, and he was given the opportunity to repent and believe. However, instead of believing, he hardened his heart, and that spirit of persecution returned more powerful than before and forever sealed Memmius’ fate.
It is true what the Prophet Isaiah says, “Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” God forms us as a potter forms a pot from a lump of clay. He forms us each to His likings to serve His purpose, and like any pot that a potter forms, there is within us an empty place that is to be filled. That place within you is the Temple of the Lord. You are the Temple of the Lord.
Consider our Gospel reading. Jesus went to the temple in Jerusalem with his disciples, where he encountered the money changers and sellers of sacrifices. Emanating from them was this overwhelming physical and spiritual stench that sent Jesus into a holy riot, so he drove them all out with the whip he made. Seeing this, the Jews became incensed and asked, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” They were asking, by whose authority are you doing these things? Why would they care? Because money changing and the selling of sacrifices is big business. I don’t know if it is still true or not, but they used to say that movie theaters didn’t make their money on showing movies; instead, they made their money on all the concessions sold. The same principle is applied here. The religious leaders made some money on folks coming to the Temple, but the shekels rolled in when it came to changing money and selling sacrifices. So they asked, by whose authority are you disrupting our business? Give us a sign that you are allowed. Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The religious leaders, thinking He was speaking of the building, said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But we know that Jesus was talking about the Temple of His body.
Remember what St. Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
There is within us this place, this temple, that must be filled. However, there is a gift that God has given to us all—free will. Free will means you are free to choose how and with what to fill that temple that is within you. You may choose, like Memmius, to fill it with those things that are in opposition or contrary to God, or you may choose to fill it with the things of God. The choice is yours, and so are the consequences.
Will this filling happen all at once? No. For good or ill, it is a process. There will be days of success and days of failure, but the hope is we will keep moving forward. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta said, “God has not called me to be successful. He called me to be faithful.” We may not always be successful in our attempts at filling this temple of ours with the holy, but we must be faithful and persevere, returning time and time again to the Throne of God, repenting and seeking His grace and mercy.
One day, speaking to a large audience, the great preacher D.L. Moody held up a glass and asked, “How can I get the air out of this glass?” One man shouted, “Suck it out with a pump!” Moody replied, “That would create a vacuum and shatter the glass.” After numerous other suggestions, Moody smiled, picked up a pitcher of water, and filled the glass. “There,” he said, “all the air is now removed.” He then went on to explain that victory in the Christian life is not accomplished by “sucking out a sin here and there,” but by being filled with the Holy Spirit, and each day, we can be filled a little more.
My friend, St. Josemaría Escrivá, writes, “Get to know the Holy Spirit, the Great Unknown, the one who has to sanctify you. Don’t forget that you are a temple of God. The Paraclete—the Holy Spirit—is in the center of your soul: listen to him, and follow his inspirations with docility.”
When Jesus was led into the wilderness after his baptism, we are told that he fasted for forty days, then the devil came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread,” but Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Our bodies need food, but the Temple of God within us needs spiritual food; it needs the filling of the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Sacrament of the altar.
Give no room to those spirits like Memmius who seek to fill you and drive you from God. Instead, persevere in your strides towards holiness and fill the temple that is you with the Holy Spirit; be filled with God.
Let us pray: (this is a prayer written by St. Augustine of Hippo) Breathe into us, Holy Spirit, that our thoughts may all be holy. Move in us, Holy Spirit, that our work, too, may be holy. Attract our hearts, Holy Spirit, that we may love only what is holy. Strengthen us, Holy Spirit, that we may defend all that is holy. Protect us, Holy Spirit, that we may always be holy. Amen.
Candle in a Cave 