Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

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Today we celebrate the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. In 324 A.D the emperor Constantine gave the Laterani family palace to the Christian community of Rome and it was dedicated to worship on November 9th of that same year. It is the Cathedral Church of Rome, the Popes own church, and for the western church it is a symbol of Christian unity. Certainly, this is an event that is worthy of our celebration and of our reflection. Still, we might struggle to find how this event is significant to us in the 21st century. What lesson can we gain from this ancient building? What difference does it make to us?

Without doubt over the past year thousands of people have made pilgrimage to this Basilica and even as we speak scores of people from around the globe have passed through it doors and are worshiping the true God in union with the entire Church. It is a magnificent edifice, a work of art, and a monument to the human desire to reach beyond the self, to aspire to the very life of the God it honors. As wonderful as it is; as poignant is its meaning to us it remains brick and mortar and God doesn’t love brick and mortar. God did not breathe his spirit into stained glass nor did God redeem cement. God loves human kind, God breathed his spirit into flesh and blood, and God redeems men and women!

Saint Paul gave a profound reality – We are God’s building. We are God’s temple. I wonder sometimes how well we really get that.

Every first Friday in one of the parishes I served we would have adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from 9:30 in the morning until 5 P.M. when we concluded with Benediction. In that adoration we honor the true presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar. Indeed on a daily basis people enter the church, reverence the tabernacle and pray before the Blessed Sacrament. It is a laudable practice.

Every Sunday during Holy Communion we all approach the altar and receive the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Doesn’t that make us a kind of tabernacle? Should we not then be deserving of one another’s devotion? I often wonder how far we are willing to accept this notion of true presence.

I had a priest friend. From nearly the beginning of his ministry he has suffered from a debilitating neurological disorder. He had not been able to take an assignment for nearly all of his priesthood and for much of that time he has not been able to serve at all. Yet he always had his faculties and was able to help out in a parish on weekends and celebrated mass for various prayer groups. He was a very good man and one that I admire. But to many of his brother priests he was damaged goods. He was avoided like a plague because his speech was sometimes off; he sometimes had tremor and walked with some difficulty. He was nearly always in pain. Before his disease was diagnosed and treated properly he may have behaved or appeared even more oddly. The man was Job.

I remember one of his homilies from years ago. He talked about how people make pilgrimages to all kinds of shrines – nothing wrong with that. But recognizing that we are all made in the image and likeness of God and that we are “living stones,” “temples” of the Holy Spirit he suggested that maybe it was time that we went on pilgrimage to one another. Perhaps it was time we showed reverence for each other. Fr. Jack was God’s temple, was he not as deserving of our devotion as any shrine on earth?

I had another friend. A deacon, he had a massive stroke and died Christmas day last year. Several years ago he had a another massive stroke and nearly died. If he survived no one thought he’d ever have any quality of life again, but he came back beyond what anyone would have hoped. Still, he walks with a gate, especially when tired. His speech is frequently slured. Although he studied for a masters degree at one of the nations premier colleges and doing quite well he would sometimes appear to come across as something less than intelligent. In fact, he reminded someone of Forest Gump. they thought it was funny enough to call him that to his face, not meaning any harm - but it was hurtful. Wasn’t He God’s temple? Was he not deserving of our devotion?

What about all those people living on the fringe? We know the who they are. They’re the ones that we go out of way to avoid on the sidewalk or when we enter the subway. They’re the ones that talk to themselves or stink of urine. Are they too not made in God’s image? Did Christ not suffer and die for them? Are they not temples of the Holy Spirit?

Are they not deserving of our affection?

Why is it that it’s so difficult for us to see Christ in each other? What are we looking for? Are we looking at all? Do we really believe in true presence?

I have this little ritual that I do frequently. People have seen me do this and probably wonder what it’s all about. They may think I’m just fooling around (because I do fool around a lot).

This little ritual was inspired by Fr. Jack’s homily. When I see someone or I’m introduced to someone I make a little reverent bow. It has become my way of acknowledging God’s presence in His people. It’s a way that I can make a pilgrimage to Christ who is truly present in those around me.

I invite anyone who will listen, to find some way to make this pilgrimage with me. It might be a reverent bow, a kind word or any gesture that shows a brother or sister that they are not invisible and that they are valuable and indispensible, loved by God and loved also by us.