May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for
us.
The Church is built of living stones and not of brick and
mortar. We are those living stones. Chosen from the most precious of materials
and formed in the image and likeness of God, we are the building blocks of the
Kingdom of God in this time and in this place.
And yet, today we celebrate the dedication of a particular
building. We celebrate the dedication of the Church of St. John Lateran. This
Church is one of the four principal basilicas of the city of Rome. It is one of
the oldest churches in the world, having been consecrated in the fourth
century, shortly after Christianity became a legal religion. It was one of the
first sites to be publically claimed as holy ground. It is dedicated to Christ
our Savior and to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.
But there is a more important reason why the whole world
celebrates the dedication of this particular church building. It is not because
it is old. It is not because it is
beautiful. It is because of the pastor of this particular church building. The
Church of St. John Lateran is the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. It is place where the chair of the Bishop
resides. The Church of St. John Lateran is the Cathedral Church of Our Holy
Father Francis. It is his cathedral. He
is the official pastor, and we are all members of his flock. We celebrate with
our Holy Father on the patronal feast of his cathedral.
Yet the Church is made of living stones and not of brick and
mortar. Each of us has been made a temple of the Living God in the waters of
baptism. We have been washed and anointed and consecrated. Our souls and our
bodies have been publicly claimed as holy ground by the Most Holy God. It is
to the soul of the baptized Christian believer that the Holy Spirit comes to
worship the Father . . . but only when
the temple is prepared.
The doors of our souls that were opened in our baptism
can be closed from the inside by sin. We
can close the doors to the temple. We can claim for ourselves that which
rightly belongs to God. We can take back the holy ground, but the seal of the
love of God remains forever. Even in the darkest sin, our souls bear the mark
of the Savior. Even in the darkest sin, the seal of the Savior cries out to the
Father for mercy. It is the seal on our souls, this mark that can never be
covered by the darkness of sin, which draws us to mercy of God in the sacrament
of reconciliation. In the tribunal of mercy, the doors that were locked are
opened by the key of the cross of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes
Catholic Church, Monroe, NC
