Word to the Wise
Monday, November 9, 2020 - Nov. 9 - The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome
[Ezek 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; 1 Cor 3:9c-11, 16-17; John 2:13-22]You are God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. Bit each one must be careful how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ. 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. [1 Corinthians]
The feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica is about space and place. The "place" is the official cathedral of the diocese of Rome, and the pope is its pastor and bishop, just like any other diocese! However, the meaning goes further than just one church structure, even one so noble as the Lateran Basilica (so-named because the Laterani family gave the land!). It could be any church where worship occurs. The building, like any familiar object, can develop its own sentimental value because of its association with personal or family experiences (baptisms, confirmations, weddings, funerals). Bishops discover this when they try to close a parish or "de-commission" a church so it can be used for other purposes.
This is where "space" comes in. What is it that makes any space holy? For many Catholics, the "holiness" of the space of a Catholic church is centered on the tabernacle with the eucharistic presence of Christ. What St. Paul is saying to us in the second scripture for today is that God is present in each one of us as well. Each one of us is a sacred temple!! Christ is present in other ways outside the tabernacle and that presence is no less "real" than the eucharistic presence in the tabernacle! Catholic faith and worship have survived (and still do) under circumstances where a church building was (is) impossible. Physical or psychological abuse of another person is a form of desecration. We are challenged to love and respect one another as sacred space, as temples of the Holy Spirit, as the Body of Christ!! Christ's Body, whether in the tabernacle or in the worshiper, is what makes a place a holy space! AMEN