Christian Art | The Temple | Jesus Christ Builds The True Temple | Let Us Celebrate | Let Us Pray
Office Of Readings | Week 14, Saturday, Ordinary Time | A Reading From The Discourses Of Saint Augustine On The Psalms | The Lord Jesus Christ Is The True Solomon
‘The Lord Jesus Christ is the true Solomon.’
In this reflection on Psalm 126, Saint Augustine teaches that the true Solomon is not simply Israel’s famous king, but Jesus Christ himself. Solomon’s name means ‘Bringer of Peace’. While Solomon built the first temple in Jerusalem, Christ builds the true temple, the Church—made not from stones but from living people, drawn from every nation and brought into unity.
Psalm 126 And The Temple
Psalm 126 begins: ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain.’ Augustine reminds us that although Solomon built the original temple, its deeper meaning points forward to Jesus Christ, who builds a greater house—his Church. This Church is where God dwells among his people, uniting both Jews and Gentiles through the peace of Christ.
Jesus Christ As The True Solomon
The name ‘Solomon’ is key: ‘peaceful’ or ‘peace-bringer’. Jesus Christ is the one who truly brings peace—not only peace between individuals but peace between God and humanity, and unity among all peoples. Saint Paul writes, ‘He is our peace, who made both one,’ (Ephesians 2:14) referring to Christ uniting Jews and Gentiles in one body.
Augustine describes Christ as the cornerstone who brings together two different walls—two peoples—and binds them into one structure: the Church. This image shows Christ as the foundation of the Church’s unity and peace.
Who Builds The Church?
Augustine also stresses that it is not human efforts that ultimately build the Church. Preachers and teachers, the apostles, and Saint Paul himself, labour hard, but unless Christ works within people’s hearts, their labour is in vain. Only Christ can truly convert hearts and build the Church from within.
This truth is humbling: while the Church needs faithful servants—priests, teachers, evangelists—it is Christ who opens minds, changes hearts and makes people part of his holy temple.
A Spiritual Temple
Saint Augustine’s words remind every Christian that this temple is not just the global Church but also the temple of each believer’s heart. Each of us is called to become a dwelling place for Christ, built by his grace.
Psalm 126 therefore speaks not only about church buildings or human achievements but about how our lives must be centred on Christ. Without Jesus at the centre, all our work, even religious work, is ultimately empty.
A Reading From The Discourses Of Saint Augustine On The Psalms | The Lord Jesus Christ Is The True Solomon
Because Solomon had built a temple to the Lord – a prototype and an image of the future Church, the Lord’s body, which is why the Gospel says Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up – because the Solomon of history had built that temple, our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Solomon, built a temple for himself. The name ‘Solomon’ means ‘Bringer of Peace’, and our Lord, the true Solomon, is the true bringer of peace, which is why the Apostle says He is our peace, who has made both into one. He is the true bringer of peace, who has taken two walls coming from different directions and joined them through himself, becoming the cornerstone that unites them: the believers who come from the people of the circumcision and the believers who come from the uncircumcised. He has made one Church from the two peoples, he has become their cornerstone and their peacemaker.
So because the historical Solomon, son of David and Bathsheba, king of Israel, was prefiguring this peacemaker when he built the Temple, Scripture takes care that you should not think that he himself was the peacemaker. Scripture shows you another Solomon, by beginning a psalm with the words, Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. So the Lord builds the house, the Lord Jesus Christ builds a house for himself. Many labour to build it, but if he is not the architect, in vain have its builders laboured.
Who are they who work at building it? They are everyone in the Church who preaches the word of God or administers the sacraments of God. We all rush around, we all labour, we all build; and before us, others rushed, laboured, built; but unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. For this reason, when they saw some of the people fall, the Apostles, and Paul himself, said: You and your special days and months and seasons and years! You make me feel I have wasted my time with you. Because he knew that he had been built up by the Lord from within, he wept over these others because he had worked among them to no avail.
We speak in public, but he builds inside. How well do you listen? We can tell. What do you think of it? He alone knows, who sees your thoughts. It is he who builds, he who gives advice, he who instils fear, he who opens the understanding, he who directs your perceptions and leads you to faith; and yet we too work, as labourers in the harvest.
Prayer With Jesus
Lord Jesus Christ, true Solomon and Prince of Peace,
you are the cornerstone who unites all peoples into one holy Church.
Help us to labour faithfully in your service,
always remembering that unless you build the house, our work is in vain.
Grant us peace in our hearts and unity among your people,
so that together we may become your living temple,
a dwelling place for your glory.
Strengthen our faith, deepen our love, and guide us by your Spirit,
so that in all we do, we may glorify your name.
Amen.
Glossary Of Christian Terms
Solomon: King of Israel, son of David, known for his wisdom and for building the Temple in Jerusalem; his name means ‘peace’ or ‘peace-bringer’.
Temple: In the Old Testament, the sacred place where God dwelt among his people; in Christian theology, the Church is the true temple built by Christ.
Cornerstone: A stone that holds together two walls; a biblical image for Christ who unites different peoples (e.g. Jews and Gentiles) into one Church.
Psalm 126: A psalm beginning ‘Unless the Lord builds the house…’, used by Augustine as a reflection on Christ’s work in building the Church.
Church: Both the community of Christian believers and, in Augustine’s imagery, the spiritual temple in which Christ dwells.
Peace (Shalom): In the Bible, peace means more than the absence of conflict—it signifies wholeness, harmony, and right relationship with God and others.
Jesus chooses his core group of disciples, the Apostles, who will live and travel with him and to whom Jesus will impart his deepest and most extensive teachings. While Jesus speaks mysteriously, in parables, to the majority of his listeners, the Apostles will be privy to the hidden meanings of his words, the parables explained, albeit they will often fail to understand or be able to accept what Jesus tells them [ … ]
When we bear false witness about ourselves, pretending to be faultless or righteous, we deceive not only others but also ourselves. Jesus calls us to be authentic, acknowledging our need for his grace and our dependence on his power to live according to his commandments [ … ]
The poem explores relationship between human grief and divine presence. The poem opens with an image of the heart heaving, which leads Herbert to recognize God’s role in guiding sorrow. This recognition transforms grief from chaos into something governed. The rod of suffering becomes a scepter, suggesting authority and purpose in the experience of pain. Without God’s involvement, Herbert believes his grief would have overwhelmed him entirely [ … ]
