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Each year, on November 9, the Church throughout the world observes a special feast marking the anniversary of dedication of a Roman church called St. John Lateran, dedicated by Pope Sylvester I in the year 324. Why is the dedication of one Roman church celebrated throughout the world? Because this isn’t just any church. On the main façade of St. John Lateran is a Latin inscription proclaiming it “Mother and Head of all Churches of the City and the World.” St. John Lateran – not St. Peter’s – can claim this august title because it is the cathedral church of the Pope, the Bishop of Rome. For many centuries, the Popes lived at the Lateran palace. It was here that some of the earliest synods and councils of the Church took place, as the bishops fought heresies and hammered out doctrines we take for granted today. It was only when they returned from their Avignon exile in the 14th century that the Popes took up residence at the Vatican Palace, which (they thought) was situated in a healthier part of the city! In celebrating the feast of the dedication of the great Basilica of St. John Lateran, we are not celebrating a church, but the Church. We give glory to God whose dwelling is with the human race, to his Son who took on our human flesh, and to the Spirit who makes of us living temples. We are all called to build the Church and to be the Church: “You give us grace upon grace,” says the Preface of the Dedication of a Church which we hear today, “to build the temple of your Spirit, creating its beauty from the holiness of our lives.” My fellow Christians, do we wish to celebrate
joyfully the birth of this temple? Then let us not destroy the
living temples of God in ourselves by works of evil. I shall speak
clearly, so that all can understand. Whenever we come to church, we
must prepare our hearts to be as beautiful as we expect this church
to be. Do you wish to find this basilica immaculately clean? Then do
not soil your soul with the filth of sins. Do you wish this basilica
to be full of light? God too wishes that your soul be not in
darkness, but that the light of good works shine in us, so that he
who dwells in the heavens will be glorified. Just as you enter this
church building, so God wishes to enter into your soul, for he
promised: I shall live in them, and I shall walk the corridors of
their hearts. |
