IN MEMORY OF FR. VINCENT O’REILLY
SACRAMENT OF RECONCILLIATION
The Lateran Basilica in Rome, the only church building whose dedication is celebrated as a feast, is an enduring symbol of the universal church. Inscribed on its façade is “omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput.” meaning, “mother and head of all the churches of the city and of the world.” Originally completed in 324 CE, soon after Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity, the Lateran Basilica is a sign of the triumph of the faithful who survived underground for generations when Christians were persecuted. Although we likely are gathered in a much humbler setting today. We are nonetheless inextricably linked to this historical church –our mother church.
A HOUSE OF PRAYER
Today we recall the Basilica Saint John of Lateran, the Pope’s own church, the Cathedral of Rome. The Lateran was chosen as the Cathedral Rome long before Saint Peter’s was built. It is where the papacy was housed for centuries before moving across the Tiber to where Vatican City now stands. The gospel about the purification of the temple of Jerusalem is apt for today’s feast. The Jerusalem temple serves as a symbol of the Church of today, in the twenty-first century. It conveys both the idea of the temple’s sacredness, and also the need for constant purification of the structures of our Church.
THE LATERAN BASILICA
The first Christian emperor, Constantine, had a church built on land that once belonged to the Lateran family. That 4th century church was the precursor of the present Basilica. The Baptistery attached to the present Basilica is where emperor Constantine was baptized. This Basilica now serves as the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. It is the Pope’s own church in his capacity as Bishop of Rome. For that reason, it has the title, “mother and head of all the churches of the city and the world,” and that includes our own parish church where we are gathered for prayer. While our church is much smaller than the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, both are equally monuments to people’s faith. In the first reading Paul tells the Christians in Corinth, “you are God’s building you are God’s temple.” More fundamental than the building we call church are the people we call church. The building we call church is there to help us to express our identity as a people of faith called to worship God through Christ in the Spirit. If our worship is to be authentic, the shape of our worship must become the shape of our lives. Our whole lives are to be a movement towards God, through Christ and in the Spirit. This is what it means to be church, to be the temple of God in the world. This is the heart of our baptismal calling.
Gospel: John 2:13-22
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”
His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.