20181109
THINKING LOVING
FEELING AND PRAYING WITH OUR HOLY MOTHER CHURCH
09 NOVEMBER,
2018, Friday, Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
White.
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First reading
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Ezekiel 47:1-2,8-9,12 ©
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Wherever the water flows, it will bring life and
health
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The angel brought me to the entrance of
the Temple, where a stream came out from under the Temple threshold and flowed
eastwards, since the Temple faced east. The water flowed from under the right
side of the Temple, south of the altar. He took me out by the north gate and
led me right round outside as far as the outer east gate where the water flowed
out on the right-hand side. He said, ‘This water flows east down to the Arabah
and to the sea; and flowing into the sea it makes its waters wholesome. Wherever
the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will live. Fish will be
very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it brings health, and life teems
wherever the river flows. Along the river, on either bank, will grow every kind
of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruit that never fails; they
will bear new fruit every month, because this water comes from the sanctuary.
And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves medicinal.’
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Second reading
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1 Corinthians 3:9-11,16-17 ©
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The temple of God is sacred, and you are that temple
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You are God’s building. By the grace God
gave me, I succeeded as an architect and laid the foundations, on which someone
else is doing the building. Everyone doing the building must work carefully.
For the foundation, nobody can lay any other than the one which has already
been laid, that is Jesus Christ.
Didn’t you realise that you
were God’s temple and that the Spirit of God was living among you? If anybody
should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy him, because the temple of
God is sacred; and you are that temple.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 45(46):2-3,5-6,8-9 ©
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The waters of a river
give joy to God’s city, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is for us a refuge and strength,
a helper close at hand, in
time of distress,
so we shall not fear though the earth
should rock,
though the mountains fall into
the depths of the sea.
The waters of a river
give joy to God’s city, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
The waters of a river give joy to God’s
city,
the holy place where the Most
High dwells.
God is within, it cannot be shaken;
God will help it at the
dawning of the day.
The waters of a river
give joy to God’s city, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
The Lord of hosts is with us:
the God of Jacob is our
stronghold.
Come, consider the works of the Lord,
the redoubtable deeds he has
done on the earth.
The waters of a river
give joy to God’s city, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
When a Feast of the
Lord falls on a weekday, there is no reading after the Psalm and before the
Gospel.
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Gospel Acclamation
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2Ch7:16
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I have chosen and consecrated this house,
says the Lord,
for my name to be there forever.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 2:13-22 ©
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Destroy this sanctuary and in three days
I will raise it up
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Just before the Jewish Passover Jesus went
up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and
pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip
out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as
well, scattered the money changers’ coins, knocked their tables over and said
to the pigeon-sellers, ‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s
house into a market.’ Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal
for your house will devour me. The Jews intervened and said, ‘What
sign can you show us to justify what you have done?’ Jesus answered, ‘Destroy
this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews replied, ‘It
has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up
in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and
when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this,
and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.
THINKING, LOVING, FEELING AND PRAYING
WITH OUR HOLY MOTHER CHURCH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EZ 47:1-2.8-9, 12; 1 COR 3:9-11, 16-17; JN 2:13-22 ]
What is so special about the Basilica of St John Lateran in Rome
that is celebrated universally in the Catholic Church?
It is the first Christian church in history. Until then, the
Christians worshipped in their private homes because they were under the
persecution of the Roman Emperor who demanded that worship be given to the
emperor alone. It was therefore illegal for Christians to worship
Christ. So it was not until the conversion of Emperor Constantine that
the first Christian Church at Lateran was built.
What is also significant is that this
ancient church has become the embodiment and powerful symbol of the
Catholic Church that is indestructible, for this church has over the
centuries endured and grown in spite of attacks, disasters and betrayals.
It was destroyed many times by enemies within and without, by fire and
earthquakes, but rebuilt and restored again and again. That it survived
all these years through the ups and downs of history is testament to the
protection of Christ who promised to be with His Church until the end of
time. So after more than 2000 years, the Church is still thriving.
Indeed, the Church is called ‘holy
mother’ because the primary task of the Church is to give new life, like all
mothers. The Church, through the waters of baptism, gives birth to
new children of God. Even the baptismal font is shaped in the form of a
womb to symbolize the motherhood of the Church. Ezekiel gives us the
image of the temple of Jerusalem, that wherever the river underneath flows it
gives life and nourishment. Water is also a symbol of the Holy
Spirit. So too those of us who are baptized in Christ through the waters
of Baptism, having received the Holy Spirit, will bear fruit in our lives.
Secondly, the Church as mother
nurtures by teaching, sanctifying and pasturing. The Church, like all
mothers, is given the responsibility of nurturing as well. It is not
enough to give birth to new children but the Church as mother must continue to
nurture her children through the Word and the Sacraments. As teacher of
the Word of God, the Church teaches and proclaims the truth about God and about
life. She has a duty to speak the truth without fear or favour. The
Church is also called to be prophetic and be the guardian of morality for the
world; a promoter of life and a champion for the poor and marginalized.
In her sanctifying role, she helps her children to grow in holiness through the
sacraments. As the shepherd, she guides her children and looks after
them.
Thirdly, the Church as mother
wants to see all her children united. She therefore has the
responsibility to preserve unity in the House of God. She wants to bring
unity not only to the Church but the whole world by helping man to find God
through Christ. In this way, all are one. The Church is called to
be the sign and sacrament of unity. Hence, the Church is also missionary
in character. She exists to give life to all by offering the Good News.
If we consider the Church as our mother,
then on our part as her children, we must respond with love and
gratitude. If the Church invites us to celebrate this feast, it is to inculcate
love and reverence for her. To love the Church is to love ourselves
because we are the Church. Without a true love for the Church, we cannot
live in it with joy and peace. Without a true love for the Church, the
Church cannot fulfill her mission of being a sign of love and an instrument of
unity for the human race. But what does it mean to love the Church, our mother?
It means to think with the Church, love like the Church, feel with the Church
and pray with the Church.
To think with the Church means to believe in the Church and
be one of mind and heart with the Church in doctrines. We must
therefore accept the teachings of the Magisterium on faith and morals. We
cannot pick and choose what we like or don’t like because truth is not a matter
of opinion. There are times when it seems more difficult to believe in
the Church than to believe in God. But we cannot separate the Church from
Christ, since the Church is not an organization or man-made institution but
founded by Christ to be His Body, He being the head. To believe in the Church
is to believe that the Bishops, together as a College, have been entrusted with
the gift of infallibility to teach the truth from God for all of humanity.
That is why the Church is an object of faith, since to believe in Christ
is to believe in His Church. Hence, in the Creed, we confess, “We believe
in one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church.” To separate our
belief in Christ from our belief in the Church would be to separate Christ the
head from His body. However, it is not enough to obey the teaching of the
Church; we must be ready to defend the Church as well. In the light of
moral relativism in society, do we defend the Church’s moral teaching? To
think with the Church means that we are ready to explain what and why we
believe.
To love the Church means to be united with the
body of Christ, the Christian community. It means that we are ready
to serve the Church and be involved in the life of the community, using our
resources, whether material, financial or personal, to help the community
grow. We must show care and concern for our fellow Christians. We
must also be concerned for the poor and the marginalized and surely also to be
caring for the migrants who are working or living in our countries.
To love the Church also
means to forgive each other.
We must recognize the sinfulness of the Church. Quite often we have been
wounded by the Church, most of all by priests and fellow Catholics because the
people whom we love most hurt us most. The temptation is to reject the Church
when we are wounded by priests. The truth is that when we reject the
Church, we end up losing Christ as well, because by rejecting the Church, we
will find it very difficult to keep in touch with the living Christ or be
supported in our faith by the community. Thus, the challenge is to
forgive the Church and recognize that the Church, being a community of sinners,
often needs forgiveness and to forgive. Forgive us priests because we, too, are
struggling to live a holy life. Instead of condemning us, pray for us
just as I pray for those of you who hurt me as well.
Finally to love the Church is to feel
with the Church in her zeal for God’s House.
As the gospel tells us that the disciples, upon seeing how Jesus purified the
Temple, remembered the words of scripture, “Zeal for your house will devour
me.” Jesus was dedicated to the house of His Father. We too are
called to be His evangelizers. We too must feel the thirst of Jesus for
the whole world to know His Father. We are called to be the living Temple
of God for the world to see, as St Paul reminds us. By our love and
service, we are called to be the sign of God’s presence in the world. We
must have this missionary desire to proclaim the Gospel and announce Christ as
the Good News to all.
But before we can be his evangelizers, we
must first put our house and the House of God in order. We must renew the
Church as Jesus did at the temple. We begin by purifying
ourselves and renewing our faith through the Holy Spirit. Anything
that is contrary to the life of Christ must be purified. In other words,
we must grow in holiness and be sanctified by the Lord. We must
re-consecrate our lives to the Lord by doing His holy will. Hence, St Paul’s
exhortation is an important reminder not to deface the Church by doing or
saying anything that is contrary to the gospel or that divides the unity of the
Church.
In the final analysis,
holiness and mission require that we have a spirit of prayer. As Jesus says, we must once again renew
the Church by making it a house of prayer. Only in prayer, can we
be renewed in the power of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, we
remain weak and feeble, easily falling back to lethargy and sin. The Holy
Spirit continually comes to us, especially through a worthy reception of the
Eucharist and the Sacrament of reconciliation. He also renews us through
the Word of God when read and proclaimed in church.
Most of all, the Holy
Spirit enables us to develop a personal relationship with the Lord. That is why we must pray with the
Church for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit so that He can empower and
give us the charisms for the service of the Church and her mission. In
this way, we come to realize our vocation in the Church and in the family of
God according to our gifts. Renewing our commitment, we will live our
life with meaning, focus and joy. So if we love our mother Church,
then think with her, feel with her, love like her and pray with her and for
her.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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