Homily for November 9, 2014: Dedication of the Lateran Basilica & Remembering the Berlin Wall 25 years ago.

Homily for November 9, 2014: Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

November 9, 2014

Sunday, Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

Reading 1 ez 47:1-2, 8-9, 12

The angel brought me

back to the entrance of the temple,and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east,for the façade of the temple was toward the east;

the water flowed down from the southern side of the temple,

south of the altar. He led me outside by the north gate,

and around to the outer gate facing the east,where I saw water trickling from the southern side. He said to me,

“This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah,and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.Wherever the river flows,every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,and there shall be abundant fish,for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.

Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.

Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,

for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.

Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.”

Responsorial Psalm ps 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9

R. (5) The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!

God is our refuge and our strength,

an ever-present help in distress.

Therefore, we fear not, though the earth be shaken

and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.

R. The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!

There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,

the holy dwelling of the Most High.

God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;

God will help it at the break of dawn.

R. The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!

The LORD of hosts is with us;

our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

Come! behold the deeds of the LORD,

the astounding things he has wrought on earth. 

R. The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!

Reading 2 1 cor 3:9c-11, 16-17

Brothers and sisters:

You are God’s building.

According to the grace of God given to me,

like a wise master builder I laid a foundation,

and another is building upon it.

But each one must be careful how he builds upon it,

for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God,

and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

If anyone destroys God’s temple,

God will destroy that person;

for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.

Gospel jn 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.

Homily for November 9, 2014: Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

This is one of the more unusual feasts on the Church calendar.

It is one of those rare feasts, in fact, in which we honor not a person or an event or a theological idea, but a building.

The building has a long name: its official title is the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist at the Lateran. But most of us know it simply as St. John Lateran, or the Lateran Basilica.

It traces its history back to the fourth century, and gets its name not from a saint, but from a Roman family, the Laterani family, which owned the palace where the church was built.

As the oldest church of its kind, the Lateran Basilica is the “mother church” of Rome—and the church of the bishop of Rome, the pope.

If you ever get to Rome to see the Lateran basilica, you see a beautiful work of architecture and a powerful and inspiring piece of history.

But you also see something else.

It represents, in a sense, all the churches of the Catholic world: those places where the holy sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated again and again, in spaces large and small; the churches where children are baptized; where couples are married; where sins are forgiven and hope is renewed.

'We need bridges, not walls!' Pope says on Berlin Wall anniversary

Pope Francis celebrates Thanksgiving Mass for Canadian Saints François of Laval and Marie of the Incarnation on Oct. 12, 2014. Credit: Lauren Cater/CNA.

by Elise Harris

Vatican City, Nov 9, 2014 / 07:27 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Pope Francis said that it only happened through a long, painful struggle, and warned that there are still many walls that divide the world today.

“Wherever there is a wall, there is a closed heart. We need bridges, not walls!” the Pope voiced to those present in St. Peter’s Square for his Nov. 9 Angelus address.

He recalled how for many years the Berlin Wall had cut the city in two as a sign of the “ideological division” not only of Europe, but of the whole world.

When the Wall fell it happened suddenly, the pontiff observed, saying that although it happened fast, it was only made possible “by the long and arduous efforts of many people who fought, prayed and struggled for this, some even sacrificing their life.”

Among those who played a key role by working and praying tirelessly for peace and unity was St Pope John Paul II, he noted, and encouraged those present to work together in building and spreading a culture of encounter.

Constructed in 1961, the Berlin Wall was a large concrete barrier built by the German Democratic Republic that divided West Berlin from East Germany and East Berlin.

Built to stop people fleeing from communist East Germany to the West, the Wall’s fall in 1989 became a powerful symbol of the end of the Cold War. Within a year of tearing the Wall down, Germany – which was divided after its defeat in World War Two – was once again reunited.

The Pope explained that in order to foster unity rather than division, we need a culture “capable of tearing down all the walls that still divide the world, and (that) it will not happen again that innocent people are persecuted and even killed because of their beliefs and of their religion.”

In his address the Roman Pontiff also pointed to the day’s feast of the dedication of Rome’s Basilica of St. John Lateran. Built under Pope Melchiade in the early 300s, the basilica is the oldest Christian church in the world, and serves as Rome’s cathedral.

He referred to how the Lateran basilica is often referred to in tradition as the “mother of all the churches of the city and the world,” saying that the term “mother” refers to the work of the Holy Spirit who is manifested there, rather than the building itself.

Each time the dedication of a church is celebrated, we are reminded of the essential truth that the material structure is in fact a sign of the Church living and working throughout history, the Bishop of Rome explained.

In the day’s Gospel, Jesus reveals the “shocking truth (that) the temple of God is not only the building made of bricks, but it is his body, made up of living stones,” the Pope observed, noting how each person automatically becomes another living stone in this spiritual building through their baptism.

The spiritual building, which is the Church’s community of men and women sanctified by the death and resurrection of Christ, calls on each baptized person to live the faith they receive coherently in their daily lives, the Pope continued.

“And it's not easy, we all know it, this coherence in life between faith and witness; but we need to go forward and make this daily coherence in our lives,” he said, explaining that a Christian is not known for what he says so much as what he does.

It is the Holy Spirit who gives us the grace to live this coherence, the pontiff noted, saying that we should ask for this gift in order to both live the faith courageously and bear witness to charity, which are not separate things, but rather go together.

When meditating on the dedication of the Lateran basilica we also reflect on the communion of all churches throughout the world, he said, which motivates us commit ourselves to overcoming all “barriers of enmity and indifference.”

By making this commitment, we also commit ourselves “to build bridges of understanding and of dialogue, in order to make the whole world a family of peoples reconciled with each other, brotherly and harmonious,” the pontiff observed.

He concluded by pointing out how the Church herself is a sign of anticipation of this reconciliation through her message of hope and witness to the Gospel.

"It is a diabolical disorientation..."

"Let people say the Rosary every day, Our Lady has repeated that in all of Her apparitions, as if to fortify us in these times of diabolical disorientation, in order that we not let ourselves be deceived by false doctrines...Unfortunately, in religious matters, the people for the most part are ignorant and allow themselves to be led wherever they are taken. Hence, the great responsibility of the one who has the duty of leading them..."

"It is a diabolical disorientation that is invading the world, deceiving souls! It is necessary to stand up to the devil."

- Sister Lucia of Fatima

Related reading here and here.