Sign of Unity

Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Today the church celebrates the feast of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome.I guess many of us might not even aware of this feast. This leads to a reluctance to celebrate the dedication of a building stems from a fact which we rarely dare to admit. There are just too many "Protestants"in the Catholic Church so much so that this feast does not really make any sense. The Lateran Basilica was built by the Emperor Constantine on the Lateran Hill in Rome. 

Today's feast became a universal celebration in honor of the basilica called "the mother and head of all churches of Rome and the world" (omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput). The purpose of us celebrating the feast as a sign of love for union with the See of Peter. In fact, this basilica was the first to be built after Emperor Constantine's edict, in 313, granted Christians freedom to practice their religion. Initially, the observance of this feast was confined to the city of Rome, then beginning in 1565, it was extended to all the Churches of the Roman rite. The honoring of this sacred edifice was a way of expressing love and veneration for the Roman Church, which, as St. Ignatius of Antioch says, "presides in charity" over the whole Catholic Communion. 

On this solemnity, the Word of God recalls an essential truth: the temple of stones is a symbol of the living Church, the Christian community, which in their letters the Apostles Peter and Paul already understood as a "spiritual edifice," built by God with "living stones," namely, Christians themselves, upon the one foundation of Jesus Christ, who is called the "cornerstone". Jesus began the church with 12 apostles and by the power of the Holy Spirit, these apostles and other disciples of Christ formed other small Christian communities. These communities were united with the Lord and the other Christian communities through the bishops of their regions.  

The beauty and harmony of the churches, destined to give praise to God, also draw us who are limited and sinful to convert to form a "cosmos," a well-ordered structure, in intimate communion with Jesus. 

In today's Gospel reading, we see Jesus' dramatic cleansing of the temple was seen by his disciple as a prophetic sign of God's action. The temple was understood as the dwelling place of God among his people. When God delivered his people from slavery in Egypt, he brought them through the sea, and finally to Mount Sinai where he made a covenant with them and gave them a new way of life embodied in the Ten Commandments. 

God gave Moses instruction of worship and for making the Tabernacle, or tent of meeting, which was later replaced by the temple. The New Testament tells us that these serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary. Jesus' cleansing of the temple is also a prophetic sign of what he wants to do with each of us. He ever seeks to cleanse us a sin and make us living temples of his Holy Spirit.  

Through Jesus' death and resurrection, He not only reconciles us with God, but he fills us with his Holy Spirit and makes us temples of the living God. God's word enlightens our minds and purifies our hearts that we may offer God fitting worship and enjoy his presence both now and forever. 

As what Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI reminds us during his Angelus address, today's feast celebrates a mystery that is always relevant: God’s desire to build a spiritual temple in the world, a community that worships him in spirit and truth (cf. John 4:23-24). But this observance also reminds us of the importance of the material buildings in which the community gathers to celebrate the praises of God. Every community therefore has the duty to take special care of its own sacred buildings, which are a precious religious and historical patrimony. For this we call upon the intercession of Mary Most Holy, that she help us to become, like her, the “house of God,” living temple of his love.