The feast days and celebrations on our Church’s liturgical calendar tell us so much about our faith and about our history. Today, we celebrate the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. The Basilica of St. John Lateran is the cathedral of Rome. It is 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 the Church of St John the Evangelist. It was originally built as a palace by the Laterani family, then was passed into the hands of the Emperor Constantine through his wife, and was consecrated as a cathedral by Pope Sylvester in the year 324 AD. This feast day became a universal celebration to 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 our first reading from the Book of Ezekiel, the prophet describes his vision of a new temple. Life-giving water symbolically flows from this temple. Israel had been through much strife and struggle as she chose to leave God's path many times. While Ezekiel was in exile, he responded to the call of the Lord to become a holy prophet. Ezekiel communicates his prophetic visions to God’s people as the Lord’s specially messenger, calling the people back to the Lord. Ezekiel makes many sacrifices to follow this special call from the Lord. At one point, the Lord asks Ezekiel 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 as they return from exile.
Our buildings of worship are important places in our lives of faith. They are holy places that speak to us as symbols of faith. However, we must remember that we ourselves are holy temples where the Holy Spirit lives, temples that bring us to new life in Christ. We are living stones that form the body of Christ just as stones from the earth form together to create our churches and our houses of worship.
In our Eucharistic celebration today, let us remember our call to be temples of the Holy Spirit as we reflect upon the presence of our churches as holy temples where we worship God. As both Ezekiel and Jesus suffered for God's holy people, as they suffered to build up the Church and to bring the people back to God, may we look at our own sufferings as being united with the sufferings of Jesus. May the Lord help us to always be living stones of the body of Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment