The prophet Haggai speaks at a moment of spiritual drift.
The people had returned from exile, but their priorities were wrong.
They worked hard, planted crops, earned wages — but they were still restless, never satisfied.

Why? Because the house of the Lord lay in ruins.
God says: “Consider your ways… build the house, that I may take pleasure in it.”

The rebuke is sharp: if you leave God at the margins, your life will never hold together.

In the Gospel, Herod asks: “Who is this about whom I hear such things?”
It is the most important question of all time.

But notice: Herod asks with anxiety, not with faith.
He is haunted, not converted.
He wants an answer, but not the demands that follow.

Herod stands for those who treat Jesus as an interesting rumour, a troubling thought — but never as Lord.

Haggai warns against neglect: God’s house is forgotten while men busy themselves with comfort.
Luke shows us curiosity without conversion: Herod wonders about Christ, but refuses to change.

Both dangers are alive today.

Neglect: We build careers, homes, hobbies, but neglect the house of God. Mass becomes optional, prayer squeezed out, confession postponed. Life looks full, but the heart is empty.

Curiosity without conversion: People are intrigued by Jesus, admire His teaching, even speak of Him with respect — but refuse His lordship. “Who is this?” becomes a question that never becomes an act of faith.

But the call of Haggai was only a shadow.
The true Temple is not stone, but Christ Himself.
He is Emmanuel, God-with-us, the dwelling of God among men.

St Augustine says: “He is both priest and temple: the priest through whom we are reconciled, the temple in whom we are reconciled.”

If we neglect Him, our lives collapse.
If we are curious but unconverted, we remain restless.
Only in Him do we find peace.

Where then is this Temple now? In the Eucharist.
Here, Christ the true Temple is present, offered, adored.

To skip Mass, to treat the Eucharist as optional, is the same sin Haggai rebuked: living in paneled houses while God’s house lies in ruins.
To approach without faith is Herod’s sin: staring at Christ but refusing to worship.

But to approach with devotion is to find true food and true peace.
Here God takes pleasure, here His glory dwells.

Personally:

“Consider your ways.” How much of your time is for God? Do you pray daily, confess regularly, shape your life around the Eucharist? Or is Christ left on the margins while lesser things consume you?

In family life:

Is your home ordered to God? Is prayer part of your family routine, or is it squeezed out? A Catholic house without prayer is a paneled house while God’s house is in ruins.

As a parish:

Are we builders of God’s house? Not just the building, but the community of faith? Do we support the Mass with reverence, music, service, silence, and sacrifice? Or are we content to let it limp while we decorate our own lives?

Herod asked the right question: “Who is this?”
The people in Haggai’s day heard the right command: “Consider your ways. Build the house.”

Both questions still confront us.
Who is Jesus to me?
And what am I building with my life?

If He is just a rumour, I remain restless.
If He is truly the Christ, then everything — my time, my work, my money, my family — must be built on Him.

Herod’s curiosity led nowhere. The exiles’ neglect led to emptiness.
But Christ offers us fullness: the true Temple, the true presence, the true peace.

So today, let us hear Haggai’s cry: “Consider your ways.”
Let us answer Herod’s question with faith: “This is Jesus, the Christ of God.”

And let us build the only house that endures — the house of the Lord, the temple of our souls, the Church gathered at the altar.

All else is dust.
But Christ is glory.
And His house is peace.