20201109 DO WE NEED A CHURCH?
09 November, 2020, Monday, Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: White.
When a Feast of the Lord is celebrated on a weekday there is only one reading before the Gospel, which may be chosen from either the first or second reading.
First reading |
Ezekiel 47:1-2,8-9,12 © |
Wherever the water flows, it will bring life and health
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.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 45(46):2-3,5-6,8-9 © |
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.
Gospel Acclamation | 2Ch7:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I have chosen and consecrated this house, says the Lord,
for my name to be there forever.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 2:13-22 © |
Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up
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.
DO WE NEED A CHURCH?
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EZ 47:1-2.8-9.12; 1 COR 3:9-11.16-17; JN 2:13-22 ]
In the gospel, “Jesus said, ‘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?'” St John gives us a footnote, “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.” Clearly, the New Temple that Jesus was referring to is His person. Jesus is the New Temple of God, the fullness of God’s presence and from Him, flow all the graces that His believers would need. “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb 4:16)
With Jesus as the New Temple, apparently, there was no longer any need for the physical temple of Jerusalem. Indeed, when the Temple was destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans, it was never rebuilt until this day. We remember Jesus’ words to the woman of Samaria, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (Jn 4:21-24)
If we base our reflection from these two texts just mentioned, then it seems to justify that not only do we not need a temple but we do not need a church as well. Indeed, especially during this Covid-19 pandemic, because of physical and social distancing, many of us are worshipping alone or with our family, perhaps with the help of on-line masses or worship services. We are quite contented to pray at home without the need to go to a physical church. We find it more convenient, less distracting even, and most of all, we can pray together as a family with greater silence and reflection. So much so, some are wondering whether our Catholics will go back to church once there is full resumption of masses.
The question is, does such a perspective of looking at worship and religion, make us fall into religious subjectivism. This is the first danger of reducing religion to just personal worship of God. Indeed, this is what is happening in the world today. With such a great variety of religions and Christian denominations offering physical or virtual worship, people pick and choose what they like and what they do not like, as they do in a supermarket. They concoct their own brand of religion through syncretism. When we do that there is a real danger of creating God in our own image. God is no longer an objective reality but someone conceived by a figment of our imagination. God or religion simply becomes an opium in which we take refuge in times of trials and difficulties. In other words, religion is used as a tool to make us feel good. It is not about worshipping God but ourselves.
This is why whilst worshipping in spirit and truth is the fundamental principle of worship as taught by our Lord, we must not forget that firstly, we are not just individuals but we are social beings as well. We need to find strength from each other. True religion must lead to love and the gathering of a community of love. The Church, accordingly, is called to be the sacrament of love and unity. It is when Christians gather together that the Church is seen. As the Lord said in the gospel, “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Mt 18:20) Jesus is more present when His Church gathers together even though He is also present in the individual Christian.
St Paul underscores this truth that we are God’s Temple in the second reading when he wrote, “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.” It must be noted that St Paul was addressing the Christian community at Corinth. He was not saying that as individuals we are the Temple of God but rather, as a community we become the visible sign of God’s presence. When little lights come together, we show forth the glory of Christ as the Light of the world. In saying that collectively, we are God’s Temple, St Paul was not denying the fact that as individuals, we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. St Paul reminded the Christians, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor 6:19f)
Hence, we must keep in tandem between private, individual worship of God and our collective worship of God as Church, as a community. St Paul made it clear that we are God’s building. So the Church is not so much a building but it is primarily the gathering of Christians coming together to worship the Lord who is the foundation and cornerstone of the Church. It is because of the Lord that we are gathered together in His name. This explains why the Eucharistic celebration begins with a Trinitarian introduction, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.” As St Paul wrote, “For the foundation, nobody can lay any other than the one which has already been laid, that is Jesus Christ.” St Peter said, “Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Pt 2:4f)
We must never forget that we are not just social beings but we are also sacramental beings. We need symbols and signs to encounter God and people in our lives. Hence, when people sharing the same faith and same love for God come together, they need a physical place to gather together. This physical place where Christians are assembled together as a community is called church. It must be noted that the first Christian church was only built in 313 AD through the generosity of the Emperor Constantine after his conversion, which is what we are celebrating today, the Dedication of St John Lateran Basilica. In celebrating this feast, we are not celebrating the building as such but the symbolic presence of the Universal Mother Church in the world of which we belong to in one communion. The presence of the physical church continues to be important to our identity as Catholics and our presence in the world.
But more than just a presence, the church is where the sacraments are administered. Like the Temple in Jerusalem, the prophet Ezekiel says of a renewed Temple “that 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.” The church, through the sacraments and physical worship, continues to bring people into contact with God. Through the tangible signs of God’s presence in the Eucharistic celebration and in the community, we are brought closer together and we become more Church as a community.
Hence, we must conclude that in celebrating the Dedication of St John Lateran, we must preserve the reality of the living church where individuals worship in spirit and in truth, hearing the Word of God attentively, receiving the sacraments with devotion and love, so that becoming more rooted in Christ, the Vine, we will be able to be living stones of Christ in the world. We must observe a balance between individual and community worship, interior prayer and sacramental encounter with God because we are individual, social and sacramental beings.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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