I hope and pray you love your parish Church! I hope it’s a beautiful space and that you feel at home there. As restrictions are lifting, we all should be going back to Sunday Masses in our parishes in as much as one can safely go. Some places this may not be possible yet, and for some people it still may not be safe. Our local parish churches should be beautiful…I don’t mean lavish or luxurious, but rather places of peace for celebrating the Eucharist and the Sacrifice of the New and Eternal Covenant.
The Jewish people had only one temple but now the Holy Presence of God is manifest wherever the Christian Community celebrates the Sacred Mysteries, the Mass.
A Church, the home of the Community, should tell us who we are! A Cathedral should be especially beautiful, the center of the diocesan community surrounding a bishop, a successor of the Apostles. It should tell our story in painting and sculpture: where we, the People of God, have come from and where we are going - toward eternal life, the fulfillment of all God’s promises. It should tell us of our holy ancestors, our Martyrs, in the struggle to bring humanity to Christ. Our Holy Mother should be especially present, through sacred art.
And our Cathedrals and Parish Churches are all part of a great Community of Communities, symbolically all united by our communion with the Pope, Successor of Christ’s Chosen Vicar, Saint Peter…in his Cathedral.
This great reality is what we embrace today, celebrating the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral Church of the Pope, the Bishop of Rome. Inscribed on the wall of the Basilica one reads in Latin: "Most Holy Lateran Church, mother and head of all the churches in the city and the world."
The mother of all the churches…indeed that is a big claim! But what is behind everything I have said is a deeper and still greater truth. When Christ cleansed the Temple what he was proclaiming was the HE IS NOW THE TEMPLE. He is God with us, especially when fully present in the celebration of the Mass all around the earth! He is with us.
And, if we are part of His Body, as symbolized by the Lateran Basilica and your own local parish Church, YOU ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD. TRULY, THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN YOU.
Make this truth the driving force of your life. Our life as the Church community is meant to fill us with it. Let the Spirit of God shine in your heart and in your home.
Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.
