PRAYER: “O GOD, WHO FROM LIVING AND CHOSEN STONES PREPARE AN ETERNAL DWELLING FOR YOUR MAJESTY, INCREASE IN YOUR CHURCH THE SPIRIT OF GRACE YOU HAVE BESTOWED, SO THAT BY NEW GROWTH YOUR FAITHFUL PEOPLE MAY BUILD UP THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM. THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, YOUR SON, WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN”.
Ez 47:1-2,8-9,12; Ps 45:2-3,5-6,8-9; 1Cor 3:9c-11,16-17; Jn 2:13-22.
“GOD LIVES NOT ONLY IN BUILDINGS AND IN JESUS’ HUMANITY, BUT EVEN IN ME. THEREFORE, I NEED TO CONSTANTLY PURIFY THIS TEMPLE”.
The feast we commemorate today is the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the Diocesan Church of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. It is “The dedication of the Basilica of our Saviour in Rome, ‘The Mother and Mistress of all the Churches in the city and in the world’, for, being the Pope’s cathedral, it ranks even above St. Peter’s. Fausta, the consort of Constantine the Great, gave her Lateran Palace to Pope St. Miltiades about 313, and on November 9th, 327, Pope St. Sylvester solemnly consecrated part of it as the Basilica of the Most Holy Saviour, the first instance of a public consecration of a Church.
What remained of the Palace served as a residence for Popes throughout the next thousand years. Between the 4th and 16th centuries, five Ecumenical Councils and twenty Synods were held in this Basilica. Since the 12th century, it has been known as St. John Lateran, in honour of St. John the Baptist.
Among the outstanding relics which are preserved in this great shrine of Christendom are the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul, enclosed in silver busts; there is also the portable wooden altar which St. Peter used in the house of Pudens, and the sacred table of the Last Supper on which the Blessed Eucharist was instituted by Our Lord” (Cf. Saints Companions For Each Day).
Sin makes us sick, both physically and spiritually, and if a cure is not sought, we eventually die. When our sins cause us to die physically, it is, as someone may say, better than when we are spiritually dead while still physically alive. When we are spiritually dead, we are tormented and tortured both in body and soul. Spiritual death is also infectious and contagious.
It ends in hell, but not in heaven, where we are journeying to. That is why spiritual death is worse than physical death. However, when one is spiritually cured or healed, one is equally physically cured or healed. Even when one is spiritually alive, when the person faces physical death, the person may be alive (Resurrection).
The Physician/Doctor who cures or heals us from our sicknesses caused by our sinful deeds is Jesus Christ. He cures us through His Church and the Sacraments that the Church celebrates every time. The Church or Temple is therefore, so to speak, a hospital where we come to be cured of our infirmities, ailments, and sicknesses.
The word of God and the Sacraments are the medicine or the drugs Jesus gives us to heal us. In fact, the sacraments celebrated at the Sanctuary of the Church/Temple are more like life-giving water that constantly flows in there. Whenever and wherever the sacraments are properly celebrated, they bring and multiply life in us. They are like fruit trees always growing and bearing fruits in the Church. Their fruits serve as food, in fact, spiritual nourishment for us, as well as medicine to cure us. Jesus is always there in the Church through the Sacraments to do all these things for us.
In sum, the waters flowing from the temple, the dwelling place of the Lord (Cf. Ps), bring forth life and growth (1st Reading). Jesus is the living sanctuary (Cf. the Gospel), and we are his living body in the Spirit (Cf. 2nd Reading).
Let us maintain our Churches/Temples where we celebrate the sacraments. Also, when we come to celebrate, let us maintain, keep and be in the mood of the celebration. May we always cleanse ourselves, our personal temples and sanctuaries, in order to be fed, nourished and healed by the Lord through the sacraments we celebrate. May we aspire to eventually experience the fullness of the Kingdom of God. Stay blessed and Happy Feast to you.
WE MEDITATE TODAY, SUNDAY, ON THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES: ‘THE RESURRECTION, THE ASCENSION, THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE ASSUMPTION, AND THE CORONATION’. (WE PRAY FAITH, HOPE, LOVE OF GOD, GRACE OF A HAPPY DEATH AND TRUST IN MARY’S INTERCESSION) “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen”.
PRAYER: “O GOD, WHO CHOSE TO FORESHADOW FOR US THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM THROUGH THE SIGN OF YOUR CHURCH ON EARTH, THAT, BY THE OUTPOURING OF THIS SACRAMENT, WE MAY BE MADE THE TEMPLE OF YOUR GRACE AND MAY ENTER THE DWELLING PLACE OF YOUR GLORY. THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN”.
Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, UW/R, Ghana. (00233) 0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@yahoo.com.
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