A RELECTION ON THE FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF THE BASILICA OF ST. JOHN LATERAN (2014)

I will confess forthright that I have trouble celebrating the feast of bricks and mortar. Buildings are buildings and for the most part are temporary at best. The huge cities and temples of the ancient world are quickly consumed and dominated by the forces of nature, a mere plant over time having the power to bring down thick walls that once repelled missiles from enemy forces. This feast reminds me of such feasts as “the Throne of Peter”, which I still rather humorously envision as the celebration of the Papal bathroom/water closet.

However, we must look beyond the façade of a building, ancient and historical as it may be, to that which lies behind the brick and the mortar. It is not a building we celebrate today, rather it is the community of faith that we celebrate. The true brick and mortar of any house of worship is the body and blood of the souls who constructed it, in short, we, the Body of Christ. It is we, the living and breathing Body of Christ, which we celebrate today. 

More than any building, sacred or otherwise, it is we who are really the brick and mortar of any church, the living stones, as scriptures tell us, who are the real Church. We build up and replenish the Church. We are the most visible signs of Jesus Christ alive and well in the world, greater than all the John Lateran’s and St. Peter Basilica’s in the world. Without us, the living and breathing Body of Jesus Christ, these buildings would be nothing but empty facades crumbling forgotten or only remembered as historical trivia in the dust of history.

These buildings hold no spiritual power other than that with which we give them. It is from these buildings that we go forth as the real Church to bring Jesus Christ to people everywhere. It is from these buildings that we go forth as Jesus Christ to compassionately listen to the woes inflicting the people of the world. It is from these buildings that we bring the loving touch and care of Jesus to the poor, the vulnerable and the elderly largely ignored or forgotten by the world. It is from these buildings that we go forth and feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, visit the imprisoned, love the prisoner, and give comfort to the dying.

These buildings are not and never have been the destination points of our lives. Rather, these buildings of brick and mortar are the starting points from which we set out to be Jesus Christ to the world.