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Gospel: John 2: 13-22
Since the Passover of the Jews was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,
as well as the money-changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen,
and spilled the coins of the money-changers
and overturned their tables,
and to those who sold doves he said,
“Take these out of here,
and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture,
Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him,
“What sign can you show us for doing this?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews said,
“This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,
and you will raise it up in three days?”
But he was speaking about the temple of his Body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this,
and they came to believe the Scripture
and the word Jesus had spoken.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Today we celebrate the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome.
This feast is unusual because we’re not celebrating a person or an event; rather, a building. A church. In fact, the most important church in the world. Not Saint Peter’s as some might expect, but another church in Rome, Saint John Lateran.
Etched into the façade of the church’s entrance are the words, “The mother and head of all the churches of the city and of the world.”
It’s the oldest church in the Western world dating back to 324 AD, and is the official cathedral of Rome. It may seem like an abstract feast to us, but diving into the church’s history may, in fact, lead to a fruitful meditation for our own lives today.
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Over the course of 1700 years, the church of Saint John Lateran suffered from destruction and deterioration. At the end of the 9th century, it was nearly split in half by an earthquake. Two fires in the 14th century almost torched it to the ground.
During World War Two, it served as a safe haven and bomb shelter for victims of war. And more recently, it was damaged by bombs planted by the Mafia.
In spite of all the calamities it has suffered, that church stands strong and tall. It has been renewed, even rebuilt, while preserving its ancient roots, serving as a rich symbol of the Catholic Church itself.
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We all know the Catholic Church has endured various trials, even in our own time – from the earthquake of public scandal, ruining the faith of many, to the persecution of innocent Christians.
In fact, more Christians were killed in the 20th century than all previous centuries combined!
In spite of these challenges, the Church survives and, often enough, thrives. Yet, there are also times when it needs to be rebuilt. As the Lord said to Francis of Assisi some 800 years ago, “Rebuild my Church.”
It’s a call the Lord is renewing in our modern age. “Rebuild my Church!”
We hear this call echo within our own Archdiocese. Many of you have heard me speak about Cardinal Tobin’s strategic plan, We Are His Witnesses.
Over the last several decades, a variety of factors have eaten away at the religious appetite in America, leading to a general decline in Mass attendance, Sacraments, and priestly ordinations.
As a result, we as a Church need to ask ourselves, “How can we evangelize – how can we hand on – our Catholic faith to the next generation? And how can we bring those back who have left? How can we be his witnesses?”
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We must learn what Saint Francis once did: Church renewal is not a matter of stacking stones or replacing roofs.
Zeal for Christ must consume us.
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In today’s Gospel, Jesus causes quite the stir.
Imagine tables being overturned; coins bouncing across the floor; turtledoves flapping their wings, rattling their cages; nervous bystanders staring with their jaws dropped; tempers flaring; and Jesus in the center of it all, chasing moneychangers out with a whip!
He knew his actions would provoke a response. Seeds for plotting his death were planted. Irate, the religious leaders question Christ’s authority after he makes the wild claim that the Temple would be destroyed and rebuilt in three days.
With hindsight, the disciples realize that the Lord was speaking about the temple of his body.
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Although Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us that the cleansing of the Temple took place at the very end of Jesus’ public ministry, and likely so, John places it at the very beginning, reminding us that this is one of the first things a “zealous” disciple must do:
Clean house; turn tables; remove things that prevent us from keeping God as first in our lives, to the point we can say with Saint Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ living in me.”
Is there a table or two – an attitude, a habit, a sin – that needs to be overturned within me?
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It was this type of zealous faith that led to the construction, even reconstruction, of Saint John Lateran. In spite of earthquakes, fires, even dirty bombs, generations of faithful Catholics have preserved this precious house of worship.
But they also understood that which is truly irreplaceable is not some architectural masterpiece.
But the faith that built it.
It’s the same faith that has renewed our parish, and can renew our Archdiocese.
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May zeal for Christ consume us, for We are His Witnesses, the living stones of the Church, the Body of Christ on earth.
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Image credits: (1) Irish Franciscans (2) Rome and Vatican Pass (3) Redbubble