The
different feast days and celebrations in our Church calendar tell us so much
about our Church and about our history. During last Sunday’s liturgy, we celebrated All Souls Day, as we pray for the
souls of the faithful departed, especially those in a process of purification
in purgatory. Today,
on November 9, we celebrate the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
in Rome, one of the four major basilicas located in the holy city of Rome. The
Basilica of St. John Lateran is the cathedral of Rome, the Pope's cathedral
& the baptism church of ancient Rome. It is
also called the Church of the Holy Savior & the Church of St. John Baptist
and St. John the Evangelist. It was built as a palace by the Laterani
family, passed into the hands of the Emperor Constantine through his wife, and
then was consecrated a cathedral by Pope Sylvester in 324. This
feast became a universal celebration in honor of the basilica called "the
mother and mistress of all churches of Rome and the world" as a sign of
love for and union with the Holy seat of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.
In
each of today’s readings, some aspect of our place of worship is
mentioned. I
wonder how often do we take our places of worship for granted. The
prophet Ezekiel has a vision a new temple with life-giving water flowing from
it. Israel
had been through much strife. It had
become a divided kingdom. Israel chose to leave God's path many times. While
he was in exile, Ezekiel responded to the call of the Lord to become His holy
prophet. In
his visions and in his prophecies, Ezekiel becomes an instrument of the Lord,
calling his people back to Him. Ezekiel
makes many sacrifices to follow this call. At
one point, the Lord asks him to lie on his side one day for every year that the
Israelites were disobedient to God. But,
in today’s reading, Ezekiel talks about the glory of the rebuilt temple when
the Jews will be back in Jerusalem after they return from their exile.
As we
hear this reading from Ezekiel, it is insightful to note that today we have
also been asked by our Diocese and by our United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops to celebrate Vocation Awareness Week as well. As God
called Ezekiel to bring the people back to their faith, our process of the new
evangelization in the Catholic Church tries to bring our faith to people and
places where it was once embraced. Young
people who are keenly attuned to the modern world and who are called to a
vocation in the Church will be needed for this work. Recently I read, that when compared to 50 years ago, our Church in the United
States has 20,000 fewer priests and 129,000 fewer religious sisters, all the
while our needs in the Church have grown and grown. Many
people are called to the vocation of married life and are called to different
professional vocations in the world. However, we need priest, deacons, consecrated members of religious
congregations, catechists, and lay ministers to carry out Christ’s mission in
the world and in the Church. Pope
Francis has said: “Behind and before every vocation to the priesthood or to the
consecrated life there is always the strong and intense prayer of someone: a
grandmother, a grandfather, a mother, a father, a community… Vocations are born
in prayer and from prayer: and only through prayer can they preserve and bear
fruit.”
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