THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Tuesday of 32^nd week in Ordinary time, 2021

Eze 47:1-2, 8-9, 12

Ps 46

1Cor 3:9c-11, 16-17

John 2:13-22

Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

Zeal for your house will consume me

The church of Saint John Lateran in Rome is one of the four great Basilicas of the city, the other three being Saint Peter’s Basilica, Saint Mary Major’s Basilica and the Basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls. It is the Cathedral church of the Pope in his role as Bishop of the Diocese of Rome. It is called ‘Saint John’ after the two monasteries once attached, dedicated to Saint John the apostle and Saint John the Baptist. As the Cathedral Church of the Pope it has the title ‘Mother and Head of all the churches of the City and of the World’. There are many wonderful churches in Rome and throughout the world. Yet, we are all very aware that the church is not primarily a building, no matter how grand. The church is the community of believers who gather in the building we call a church. 

That is why at the beginning of today’s second reading, St Paul says to the community of believers in Corinth, ‘you are God’s building’. The most impressive physical building of worship among Jews in Paul’s time was the Temple in Jerusalem. Yet, in that same reading, Paul says to the church in Corinth, ‘you are God’s Temple’. 

Interestingly, in the gospel reading, Jesus, while standing in the magnificent Temple in Jerusalem, identifies himself as the Temple or sanctuary of God, ‘Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up’. Jesus was claiming that the place where God dwells among humanity was no longer the physical Temple in Jerusalem but himself. Paul reminds us that we, the community of faith, the members of Christ’s body, are now the place where God wishes to dwell among humanity. As living stones in God’s building, God’s Temple, each one of us is called to reveal God’s loving presence to others. 

One of the reasons we gather in a building like this, a church, is to receive the grace and strength we need to be true to our calling to be living stones in God’s spiritual building. The Lord needs us to make tangible his loving and merciful presence in our world today.

Let us pray: Father, because I am living in Christ, may I be living in the Church. Amen.

+Remain blessed