The Church as Body of Christ and as House of God

Homily for Dedication of Lateran Basilica – November 9, 2014

Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; Ps 45; 1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17; John 2:13-22

Introduction

What makes a house into a home?  A house provides shelter, but a home is where the family live, where husband and wife raise their children, where they carry out all those little family rituals, share their meals, create memories and most importantly learn the faith; for the family is the domestic church.

Today when we celebrate the feast of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, we should ask a similar question.  What makes a house or a building into a Church? 

Scripture and Theology

And the answer is the same.  A church is the place or building, where the people of God gather to pray, to worship, to recall all the mysteries of our salvation.  Whether a church costs millions of dollars like this one or only $10,000 like a church in Uganda, it is only as valuable as the faith of the people who gather there.  Without the people who worship there, a church becomes like those temples in South America or Greece that have no life in them because they are empty monuments.  Our gathering in a church every week makes it “holy ground,” because what we do there is holy.  St. Paul calls us the temple of God.

But there is a second reason that makes a building into a church; it is the house of God.  For Jesus told us that:  “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I will be their midst.”  Of course God is everywhere.  But he has told us to find him in some special places, the Temple for the Israelites, the Church for Christians.  This building might look like any other meeting hall, but its special architecture, sacred furnishings and images, even silence and music, tell us it is holy ground.

·        That is why Ezekiel in today’s first readings describes the temple as the source of life. We too come to his house to be nourished with God’s Word and his Food for life.

·        It is for the same reason that Jesus also kicks out of the temple, the merchants and money-changers; for they have turned his Father’s house into a marketplace, instead of a place where people can meet God in a special way.  Just imagine if we had ATM machines and vending machines at the back of Church; while that would make taking collections easier and quenching our hunger and thirst easier, it would make this building less a house of God and more of a marketplace.

Christian Life

Although there are many beautiful churches in the world, a Catholic should concern himself or herself especially with these three: the parish church, the cathedral and St. John Lateran in Rome.  These three churches represent the three communities of faith to which each of us Catholics belongs, the place we go to meet God in his own house.  Let us look at these three churches.

Our parish church (name it), this beautiful building, is our first spiritual home.

·        Many of us were baptised here, received our first holy communion here, were confirmed, wedded and probably will have our funeral Mass here.  As they say, this is where we are hatched, matched and despatched.

·        But more importantly this church is where we come to Mass every week, to hear the Word of God and receive his Body and Blood.

·        This church is where we come to form one Body in Christ, as we pray together.  Hopefully we come know and love each, fulfilling the Lord’s wish for us that he made at the Last Supper: “May they be one.”

But our unity as Catholics goes beyond this parish community.  We belong to the Archdiocese of New Orleans.  Our bishop, Archbishop Gregory Aymond and his Church, the St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter represent that wider unity.

·        For example, it is at St. Louis Cathedral that the more important rituals of our diocese take place: there we receive new Catholics during the enrolment of the Catechumens at the beginning of Lent and there too men give themselves to serve us as deacons, priests and bishops and are ordained.  I believe our pastor and deacon were ordained there.

·        And every Sunday at 11.00am, Archbishop Aymond or his representative celebrates Mass for the whole Archdiocese of New Orleans; some of you who can’t get down to the French Quarter follow this Mass on television. 

And so, as a Catholic in this area, the second church that should mean something to my faith is St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans; for that church represents the wider community of faith to which each of us belongs.

The third church that should interest us Catholics is the Lateran Basilica in Rome, the anniversary of whose dedication we celebrate today.  It is the Pope’s Church.  Every bishop has his cathedral and for the Pope as Bishop of Rome, his cathedral is this Lateran Basilica.  This Church actually has an interesting history.

·        It has three patrons: the Most Holy Saviour, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.

·        It is located on the Lateran hill of Rome, on the spot where there has been a church continuously for 1700 years.

·        Four councils were held there and twenty-eight popes are buried there.  For a thousand years it was the seat of the Catholic Church until the Pope moved to the Vatican hill across town in the thirteenth century.  You might say the Lateran was the Vatican of the time.

·        But even when the Pope moved to the Vatican, where the far more impressive St. Peter’s Basilica and Square are, the Pope still continues to hold St. John Lateran as his main Church, the Mother of all Churches.

And that is the reason, why today, we celebrate the anniversary of the dedication of this church, a building which represents in a visible way, the universal church.

There are many things I love about being Catholic.   But one of them is that I can go anywhere in the world, find Catholics and go to Mass with them.  I can even come here and be invited to preside over Mass and it is the same Mass.  The Pope provides this universal unity and that is why we commemorate the dedication of his church.

Conclusion

An old saying goes: “On the road between the homes of friends, grass does not grow.”  And so, as we travel week after week, between our homes and the house of God, let us think about three things that a church represents.

·        The first lesson is that the church building is a house of God, sacred space, especially since very few things are sacred anymore.  Let our church always remind us that there are places, things, and times, set apart just for God and just for growing into intimacy with him.

·        The second lesson is that the church building means little without the people who worship there.  That is why it is the buildings we call churches with a small “c” and it is the community of faith that we call Church with a big “C.”  Whether it is our parish church, our cathedral church and or those who have a chance to visit the Lateran basilica in Rome, let them all remind us of the community of faith to which belong.

·        Finally, let our churches on earth be signs of the heavenly Jerusalem for which we hope.  There in his house we shall see God as he is and with the Blessed Mother, the angels and saints, we shall praise him forever and ever.