St. John Lateran - Nov. 9th

 

 Today we celebrate the Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica, which is the cathedral of Rome. There is an inscription on the outside of the church, which states, “The holy church of the Lateran, mother and head of all the churches of the city and of the world.”

After the church was constructed by the emperor Constantine and given to pope Sylvester I, it was consecrated in 324. The pope lived at the Lateran palace for about 1000 yrs, before moving to St. Peter’s Basilica. The church also possesses the relics of the heads of Peter and Paul and the holy table our Lord used at the Last Supper.

Many think St. Peter’s Basilica is the Cathedral of Rome, but its not. It’s St. John Lateran and the church has the bishop of Rome’s chair called the cathedra.

We celebrate the dedication of the physical structure of the Lateran Basilica, not so much because it is old, or that it was the resident of the pope for centuries, but most importantly, because of who is in the Church. Our Lord Jesus Christ truly present in the Eucharist now resides in the Lateran Basilica and every Catholic church in the world.

In the second reading today, St. Paul said, “Do you not know you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.”

Today’s feast is a reminder that our body, like that of a church, is a temple, which belongs to God. Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and because of that we should treat our body with respect. It does not belong to us, it belongs to the Lord. So when we purposely harm our body, we really harming something that belongs to God.

Many today, don’t respect their God given body, which does not belong to any of us, but to the Lord. We are stewards of our body. We are to take care of that which belongs to God.

When our body dies, we bury it with respect. In fact, it used to be that it was never be permitted to cremate. But today, we can, but only if the remains are buried properly and the ashes are not scattered and if the person who died believes in the resurrection of the body. At the end of the world, our body, whether decayed or as ashes will be resurrected and be re-united with our soul and the general resurrection.

Because our body is sacred, we are to treat it with respect. Some ways the body is disrespected today, include dying of one’s hair such as green, red, yellow, orange or purple. For young men they at times where there hair with dread locks, which means they don’t wash their hair and purposely damage it.

The bible also specifically mentions not to get tattoos nor mutilate our body. Tattoos inject ink in our body and at times can cause serious infections. Simply even writing on the hand and use it as paper is also disrespectful to the body.

Surgeries such as face lifts, or if a man or woman gets sterilized, so as to not have children is harmful to the body.

Piercing of eye brows, the nose, and excessive ear piercing is not treating our body with respect. Other ways we treat our body sinfully is overeating food, or food that harms our body, or smoking, which harms our lungs, or excessive drinking of alcohol. Eating excessive candy. Some women starve themselves to have a slim figure. Not taking care of our health or by refusing to see a doctor, or not taking medicine beneficial to us. Some people exercise excessively and can eat harm their body because of the desire for others to look at their physic. Others don’t get the exercise they need such as walking. Some don’t bathe as often as they should.

Even more important than the physical care of the body, is the care of the soul. Whereby we avoid sin, especially mortal sin. We do this especially by going to confession regularly to spiritually wash our soul and to receive Holy Communion often, which strengthens our soul, when its united to Jesus.

We become living tabernacles, when we receive Jesus in Holy Communion. And we need to be conscience of the indwelling of God in our soul, for by doing this, we will treat our body and our soul with respect.

By coming to Mass today, we recognize our need to drive those things in our heart, which prevent the temple of our soul from truly being the Father’s house. We need to be like Jesus, and have holy zeal, to drive out the sheep, oxen, and money changers within our heart (which are our sins).

Today, let us therefore honor and praise St. John Lateran Church, the mother church of all Christians, let us with zeal strive to make our soul immaculate in imitation of Mary, the image and model of the Church and in this way, Our Lord will find within us a miniature palace, a little tabernacle and a home He can dwell.