If you were asked to do a collage around the theme of “Church,” what 10 pictures would you choose? [It might be fun to jot down what you would pick before you read any further today.]
The pictures that come to my mind would be Sunday mass at my current parish church, the interior of our “old church” where I was married and my children received their initial sacraments, the scene of the first mass I attended as a college student, the Protestant church I attended as a teen, St. Peter’s square filled with people and the pope on the balcony. Then, interestingly, my attention shifts from places to people and actions: a friend and I visiting a dying friend, our prayer group singing in the chapel…and serving lunch at a low income senior apartment, the parish meeting I attended earlier tonight, and, finally, you readers around the world who come together by visiting this website.
Church—what is it?
Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran
Today the universal church celebrates the Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran, Archbasilica in Rome. This church was originally dedicated in 324, just eleven years after Christians gained the right to practice their faith openly. It is the oldest church in the West. Originally named the Basilica of Christ the Savior, the names of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Apostle took precedence for denoting the church in the 6th century. Lateran is part of the name because the original property given the church by the Roman emperor Constantine had belonged to the Laterani family. It is the Archbasilica of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope’s official church.
This is the only feast day in the Roman calendar that officially celebrates a church building. The readings for today lead naturally to consideration of, “What is Church?”
Foundation in the Temple
Today’s first reading gives a wonderful vision of God’s house. The prophet Ezekiel is writing from the Babylonian exile. Throughout that exile the Jewish people had had to maintain their faith without the benefit of temple or way to worship in community. The temple had been destroyed in 587 BCE. Ezekiel is giving the exiles a picture to energize them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.
He describes not only the temple, but waters of new life flowing from the temple. In the full text of this chapter he describes how the water begins as a trickle and grows to a great river as it moves from the temple into the land. Today’s selection focuses on the temple as center of new life:
I saw water flowing out
from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east…
“This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah,
and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.
Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,
and there shall be abundant fish,
for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;
their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.
This was a picture of abundance coming from God’s house. This was a picture of hope and trust in God, in God who lived in his temple and gave life to the land. Yes, this is a picture of Church.
We are church: temples of the Holy Spirit.
The second reading looks at church in a different way. St. Paul describes how each of us is a temple of God—a mini-church. We are, you know. We are living temples of the Holy Spirit who has lived within each of us since the moment we were baptized.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God’s temple,
God will destroy that person;
for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.
Church, the building where God lives. Church, the living residence of God which I am, which you are. We are temples of the Holy Spirit because of the great gift God made of Himself in Jesus.
This, too, is Church—especially as I the temple of the Holy Spirit join with you the temple of the Holy Spirit and we join with others across the world. We, too, are Church.
Christ’s Passion for His Church
The Gospel today is a picture of Jesus we seldom see: It is a picture of Jesus “consumed with zeal” for the holiness of the temple, of his Father’s house. His actions are clear and his words are sharp:
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen,
and spilled the coins of the money-changers
and overturned their tables,
and to those who sold doves he said,
“Take these out of here,
and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
Keeping his Father’s house holy was tremendously important to Jesus. This, too, is Church.
Applications
Today, in many ways, the culture is as destructive to the Church as it was in the time when the Church of St. John Lateran was built—perhaps almost as destructive spiritually as the Chaldean culture was destructive to the Jews in exile.
Are we consumed with zeal for God’s house? Or do we take it for granted?
What if we in Frankfort had not been able to celebrate mass for 70 years—the time of the Babylonian exile? That’s one year longer than my life. In that scenario NEVER would I have experienced the worship of mass. My family wasn’t Catholic or actively Christian. That means I would know NOTHING of the faith which means so much to me now.
What if we in the United States had not been able to worship publicly for 300 years—since 1717? That’s about how long after the resurrection that Christians had to gather outside the official religion of Rome. What would America (or your country) have been without the influence of Christianity?
What if there was little or no reverence in my local parish? What if chaos reigned at mass? What if, for whatever reason, Jesus would come in and take a whip to our Gathering Space?
Is Christ pleased with his Church? A measure from Paul.
Indeed, how pleased is Jesus with his Church today? Tuesday morning of this week our pastor talked about the reading from Romans 12. He named it as a list of characteristics of an authentic Christian. As I think about Church today, it also seems to be a good measuring rod for Church—be it the church of each of us as temples of the Holy Spirit…or of our parish…or of the whole Church:
Let love be sincere;
hate what is evil,
hold on to what is good;
love one another with mutual affection;
anticipate one another in showing honor.
Do not grow slack in zeal,
be fervent in spirit,
serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope,
endure in affliction,
persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the holy ones,
exercise hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you,
bless and do not curse them.
Rejoice with those who rejoice,
weep with those who weep.
Have the same regard for one another;
do not be haughty but associate with the lowly.
Prayer:
Lord, thank you for the great gift of living in your community, the Church. Thank you for the teaching and solidity of doctrine in your Church’s magisterium. Thank you for pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons, religious, and laity—all of us. Thank you for our church buildings and for my being a temple of the Holy Spirit. Help me today to rejoice in being part of the great multitude of Christians. Give me the grace tonight, Lord, to gauge myself as Christian acting within the local and universal communities of Church. Am I radiating you? Will people know I am a Christian by my love? When people encounter me, will they experience you? Lord, today let me build your Kingdom by living and loving as part of my parish and part of your Church across the world. Amen.
