The Feast Of The Dedication Of The Lateran Basilica In Rome :: Op-stjoseph.org

The Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome Scripture Readings First: Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 Second : 1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17 Gospel: John 2:13-22. Prepared by: Fr. Stephen Dominic Hayes, OP 1. Subject Matter 

The feast of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, which proudly bears on its façade, the inscription, “ Omnis Urbis et Orbis Ecclesiarum Mater et Caput, “ The Mother and Head of all the Churches of the City and the World,” points our attention towards the mystery of the person and unity of Holy Church, manifest in a particular way in the ministry of Peter to the whole Church, and, by extension, the manifestation of that one Church in each and every community which gathers throughout the world on Sunday, incarnating that same Church locally. Holy Church is likewise joined in a splendid and glorious way to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has become for humanity the Temple of God in his own Person, which Person is the foundation stone on which the Church is erected and the power it which She lives.

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The dignity of this feast is such that it displaces the usual cycle the Sundays of Ordinary Time, in order that we might celebrate more solemnly the marriage and union of Christ and his Church, a mystery to be consummated fully at the end of time, but present now in time and glory, a mystery which is at the heart of the daily life of a Christian.

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The building of a Church points in a particular way to the daily reality of the incarnation of the power Christ in the life of his Church. The Church is both the "house of the Lord” (Gk.: “kyriakon” and the place where the holy assembly (Heb. “qahal” , Gk.: “ekklesia” )of God becomes manifest and visible, and especially in the act of worship. The dedication of a church is in a particular way the manifestation of the community that worships there, and a sign of its permanence and stability. The church itself becomes a testimony to the presence of the community even when the community itself is not assembled for worship.

2. Exegetical Notes 

First reading: Ezekiel concludes his book with a vision of fresh water flowing down from the Temple in Jerusalem to the desert, a stream so abundant and life-giving that it even gives life to the Dead Sea; and this flow gives life twelve months out of twelve. Christians see this figure as prophetic of the crucified Body of Christ, pierced for sin (John 19:34) and now the source of the cleansing, life-giving water of baptism. Even the ancient wounds of sins such

as those of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (which traditionally lie under the waters of the Dead Sea) are to be healed by the power of Christ's cross, united to his own deathless body of the power of the water that flows from his side. This water binds together the bodies of the members of the Church into one holy and spiritual edifice to the glory of God. 

Second reading: In the reading today, St. Paul applies the notion of the Church is the temple of God to the problem of living day by day as a Christian, building on the foundation who is Jesus Christ. Adds a building derives all its unity and subsequent development from the form of its foundation, so does the Christian build on Christ unto salvation; but Paul warns that we must use the noble materials of virtue (signified by gold, silver, and precious stones) and not in matter less enduring (hay, straw, wood). Failure to do so results in the expiatory punishment inflicted on last day in which those who fail to work in virtue suffer loss, though not to destruction if they have built on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

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Gospel: In St. John's Gospel, the story of the cleansing of the Temple is placed at the beginning of the public ministry rather than the end. Furthermore, in terms of narrative, and the unbelief of the Judeans who confront Jesus asking for a sign contrasts with the absolute faith that Mary showed in the preceding narrative of the wedding feast at Cana, and looks forward to the conversation that Jesus will have with Nicodemus in the material that follows in Chapter 2. The sign that Jesus will provide, a sign that is credible to those who accept him are open to him, will be Jesus’ own resurrection, and the inauguration of a new and spiritual worship pleasing to the Father based on his own Body and Blood.

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In the course of the Gospel narrative, Jesus uses three expressions for "temple": hieron, to oikos tou Patros mou, and naos. In the first section, during the cleansing of the Temple, and Jesus contrasts the priestly character of the temple (evoked by the use of hieron, with the “ market-house” (oikos emporiou) that it has become. Rather, it is “my Father’s house”; the emphasis, which does not mention the function of the Temple as a “house of prayer “ as the synoptic versions do, emphasizes Jesus’ own personal connection to the Temple – it is “my Father’s house.” In the second half of the Gospel, dealing with the desire for a sign, uses uses different language - and that of “naos” - a masculine noun referring especially to the sanctuary or inner sanctuary of a temple. The temple of Jesus’ own body, raised up on the third after his death, is to become the center, focus, and principle of organization for the new assembly God is founding in his holy Catholic Church. The Church of God is first of all a thing of the Spirit, which nevertheless manifests itself in the flesh of Christ and his believers, who are enrobed by the architecture of the Church edifice as apparel clothes the body.

3. References to the Catechism of the Catholic Church 

CCC 797: Far from having been hostile to the Temple, where he gave the essential part of his teaching, … (Jesus did not refrain from) even identifying himself with the Temple by presenting himself as God's definitive dwelling place among men. Therefore he is being put to bottle the death presaged the destruction of the Temple, which would manifest the dawning of a new age in the history of salvation: "The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father."

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CCC 797: "What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church." “To this Spirit of Christ, as an invisible principle, is to be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the body I joined one with the other. And with their exalted head; for the

whole Spirit of Christ is in the head, the whole Spirit is in the body, and the whole Spirit is in each of the members." The Holy Spirit makes the Church "the Temple of the living God." 

CCC 809: The church is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the soul as it were, of the Mystical Body, the source of its life, of its unity in diversity, and of the riches of its gifts and charisms.

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CCC 1179: The worship "In spirit and in truth" of the New Covenant is not tied exclusively to any one place. … what matters above all is that, when the faithful assemble in the same place, they are the "living stones," gathered to be "built into a spiritual house." For the body of the risen Christ is the spiritual Temple from which the source of living water springs forth: incorporated into Christ by the Holy Spirit, "we are the temple of the living God."

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CCC 1180: … These visible churches are not simply gathering places, but signify and make visible the Church living in this place, the dwelling of God with man reconciled and united in Christ.

4. Patristic Commentary 

St. Augustine of Hippo (Tr. X in Iohannes, c.4.): So that temple was still a figure only, and our Lord cast out of it all who came to it as a market. And what did they sell? Things that were necessary for the sacrifice of that time. What if he had found men drunken? If the house of God not to be a house of merchandise, ought it to be a house of drunkenness?

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St. John Chrysostom (Homily xxii, 2.) But why did Christ use such violence? He was about to heal on the sabbath day, and to do many things which appeared to them transgressions of the Law. But he might not appear therefore to be acting contrary to God, he did that at his own peril; and thus gave them to understand that he who exposed himself to such peril to defend the decency of the house, did not despise the Lord of that house. For the same reason, to show his agreement with God, he said not, the Holy House, but, my Father's house.

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Saints Caesarius of Arles (Sermons 179.1): (On 1 Cor. 3:15) There are many people understand this text incorrectly, deceiving themselves with a false assurance. They believe that if they build serious sentence upon the foundation of Christ, those very offenses can be purified by transitory flames, and they themselves can later reach eternal life. This kind of understanding must be corrected. People deceived themselves when they find themselves in this way. For in that fire in his slight sins which are purged, not serious ones. Even worse, it is not only the greatest sins of the smaller ones as well, which can ruin a person.

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Origen ( Tom. X in Iohannes, C.20.) Both these, that is, both the body of Jesus and the Temple, seem to me to be a type of the Church, with which living stones is build up into a spear to a house, into a holy priesthood; according to St. Paul, You are the body of Christ, and members in particular. … or as that sensible body of Christ was crucified and buried, and afterward rose again; so the whole body of Christ's saints was crucified with Christ, (each glorying in that cross, by which he himself to was crucified to the world,) and, after being buried with Christ, has also risen with him, walking in newness of life.

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Origen ( Tom. X in Iohannes, C.23.) Our Lord's body is called the Temple (naos), because it has the Temple contained the glory of God dwelling therein, so the Body of Christ, which represents the Church, contains the Only-Begotten, Who is the image and glory of God.

5. Examples from the Saints and Other Exemplars 

The story of the conversion of St. Paul contains a strong example of the identity of Christ and his Church (Acts 9:1-9) “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” The persecution of the Church is the persecution of Christ; the two joined, have one life together; Bride and Bridegroom are one moral person.

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The liturgy of the Church should bring down the glory of God to man, and the prayer of man to God. The ambassadors of the Kievan Rus, sent by Prince Vladimir to various countries to select the correct faith for the people of Kiev, returned awestruck by the service which they attended in the great cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople: “We did not know if we were on heaven or earth, for there is no such splendour and beauty on earth, and we are at a loss how to express what we saw. We only know that God is with these people and that their services were better than those of all other countries.

6. Quotes 

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St. Augustine of Hippo: As often as we celebrate the dedication vestibule of an altar or church, if we assist with faith and attention, living holily and righteously, that which is done in temples made with hands is done also in us by a spiritual building. For he lied not who said, "the temple of God, which you are, is holy;" and again, "do you not know that your bodies of the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?" Therefore, since we are made worthy to become the temple of God-not by any foregoing work of our own, but by his grace-let us work, as hard as we are able with his help, that our Lord find not in his temple, that is, in us, anything whereby the eyes of his Majesty may be offended. Lumen gentium 2: “Often, too, the Church is called the building of God. The Lord compared himself to the stone which the builders rejected, but which was made into the cornerstone. On this foundation the Church is built by the apostles and from it the Church receives solidity and unity. This edifice has many names to describe it; the house of God, in which his family dwells, the household of God and the Spirit; the dawning place of God among men; and, especially, the holy temple. This temple, symbolized in places of worship built out of stone, is praised by the Fathers, and, not without reason, is compared in the liturgy to the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. As living stones, we here on earth are built into it. It is this holy city that is seen by John as it comes down out of heaven from God. When the whole world is made in you, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.” Pope Benedict XVI (Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith; the Church as Communion, p.287): The Church is not there for her own sake…. she has a task to perform for the world, for mankind. The only reason she has to survive is because your disappearance would drag humanity into the whirlpool of the eclipse of God and, thus, into the eclipse, indeed, the destruction, of all that is human. We are not fighting for our own survival; we know that we have been entrusted with a mission that lays upon as a responsibility for everyone… she is there, not for her own sake, but for mankind. She is there so that the world may become a sphere for God's presence, the sphere of the covenant between God and men. St. John of Kronsstadt: The Church and its divine services are an embodiment and realization of everything in Christianity. Here, in words and actions, are told the entire economy of our salvation, all of Sacred and Church history, all the goodness, wisdom, faithfulness and immutability of God in His deeds and promises, His truth, holiness and

eternal might. Here we encounter a wonderful harmony in everything and an amazing logic both in the whole and in the parts. It is the divine wisdom, accessible to simple, loving hearts. 7. Other Considerations 

“The mansion of the Laterani in Rome came into the hands of the Emperor Constantine by his second wife, Fausta, and by him it was given to the Church. It was the principal residence of the popes from that time until the exiled to add beyond at the beginning of the 14th century, a period of a thousand years. … The basilica was dedicated to our most holy Savior and the baptistery in honor of St. John the Baptist. The now universal practice of calling the church itself St. John Lateran arose at a time when it was served by monks from an adjoining monastery of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Divine…. it retained its ancient basilican form to the 17th century when Francesco Borromini made of it the Church that we see today. The apse was enlarged into a choir, in a more happy fashion, in 1878. The high altar of St. John Lateran, encased in marble, is (of wood and) a relic of the days of persecution, and is believed by some to have been used by St. Peter himself. In the ciborium over the altar are enshrined the reputed heads of Saints Peter and Paul.” (Butler's Lives of the Saints; entry for November 9.)

Recommended Resources Benedict XVI, Pope. Benedictus: Day by Day with Pope Benedict XVI. Yonkers, Ignatius Press/ Magnificat 2006. New York: Magnificat: SAS, 2006.

Copyright

Brown, Raymond E., S.S., Fitzmeyer, Joseph, S.J., and Murphy, Roland E., O. Carm. The Jerome Biblical Commentary. Two Vols. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Jurgens, William A. The Faith of the Early Fathers. 3 Vols. Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1979. Thomas Aquinas, St. Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels Collected out of the Works of the Fathers. Volume III- Pt. II: St. Luke. Albany, N.Y.: Preserving Christian Publications, Inc., 2001.