As we celebrate the Feast of the Lateran Basilica, we recall that Church is the People of God
by Sister Mary Kabat
“To dedicate” a place to God is an act of recognizing His glory and honor.
Why does the Catholic Church celebrate a feast about a church in Rome on a Sunday no less? It is because the Lateran Basilica in Rome is considered the mother church of all Catholic churches in the world.
The Emperor Constantine granted Christians the liberty to worship in 313. He then constructed a magnificent basilica on the Caelian Hill in Rome, over the ancient Lateran Palace. Though destroyed several times over the centuries, it was always rebuilt. The final reconstruction and rededication took place in 1724. At that time the feast we celebrate today was established.
As I taught my students, the People of God are the Church with a capital “C.” In the Collect for Sunday we pray that God increase the spirit of grace in us so that by new growth God’s faithful people may build up the Church, the foreshadowing of the heavenly Jerusalem. In the first reading from Ezechiel (47:1-2,8-9,12) we hear of the abundance of God’s grace and life through the symbol of water. St. Paul in the first Letter to the Corinthians (3:9c-11,16-17) tells us we are the temple of God with the Spirit of God dwelling in us.
The Gospel (John 2:13-22) has a harsh tone as we hear of Jesus’ anger that people are treating the temple dedicated to God as a marketplace. He refers to himself as the temple that he will raise in three days that even his disciples will only understand after Jesus’ resurrection. As the People of God, we have a mission to live a life worthy of Jesus’ Good News that all may come to know the invitation to be Church now and forever.
May we be made the temple of God’s grace.
Thanks, Mary, for reminding us that church is where we are reminded that we are Church.