Today we celebrate the Dedication of St. John Lateran, the Cathedral of Rome: the Pope’s Cathedral. Such feasts are not important for us because of some particular building, but because of what such a building means spiritually, and what happens when we gather in such places.
There are three major images I want to point out that are relevant today and can help us to understand the scriptures we have heard and the reality of the Church.
First: the Church takes the place of the old temple in Jerusalem. It is a focal point for our Christian prayer. This has consequences. The Temple is where God visited his people. The cloud of his presence resided there. Because the Church takes its place, this means that the Church is where God now visits his people. We see this link to the temple in traditional church architecture. The Tabernacle, which is traditionally veiled by a small curtain, is like the Holy of Holies, which had a curtain to separate it from the rest of the temple. The sanctuary, where the priest and sacred ministers offer the Sacrifice of the Mass and the other rituals and prayers of the Church, is like the sanctuary in the temple, where the altars were and the priests of the temple performed various sacrifices, rituals, and prayers. Finally, the nave, where the congregation sits, is like the temple porch and the various outer courts, where the people would be during the temple services.
Second: Christ has entered the new temple. The presence of God left the ancient Jewish temple at the Babylonian exile and never returned. But with Christ coming into the world, this changed. The interaction between Christ and Zacchaeus tells us what God has done. Humanity is Zacchaeus, and God has come to us and visited our home: this earth. He has come to seek and to save what was lost and has come to dwell and reside with his children, who are sinners. He does this so that there may no longer be crying or weeping, for he makes all things new! God has come to be present with humanity, just as our Lord went to be present with Zacchaeus. When he came here, he was consumed with zeal for his new home and cleansed this earth of sin.
Third: Christ has entered each of us and made us temples of the Holy Spirit. This is, perhaps, the most important thing for us to remember. Not only does God reside here, in his Church which is the Body of Christ, but he also resides in each of us who are members of the Body of Christ. He desires not only to be here in this building, but to live in our hearts. He desires to save those of us who are lost. Zeal for us consumes him, and he desires to cleanse and redeem us from the bondage of sin and destroy the power of death over us.
So what do we do with all this?
In Ezekiel we hear of a stream of water, flowing from the side of the temple, which becomes a mighty river and gives life to everything on its banks. The Church Fathers remind us that the temple is Christ, and the stream is the grace poured into the world as the blood and water came forth from his wounded side on the Cross. But there is more to it than this image: it is also a call to action for each of us.
Each Catholic Church is a temple of God. And as we stream forth from this temple of God today, we are that stream flowing out of the temple in Ezekiel. We are the people that God has chosen to bring his grace into the world. We are the people that God has chosen to bring life to all who meet us. We are the people that God has chosen to preach the Good News to all around us: that God has come into this world, he has freed us from sin, he has conquered death, and he has invited every single human being on the face of the earth to join him in happiness and peace for the rest of eternity.
God has visited his people. He has visited us. He has come with zeal to make all things new. And he has chosen to do that through each of us. So let’s get to work, living boldly as Catholic Christians and spreading the Good News.