THURSDAY NOVEMBER 9, 2023
THURSDAY OF THE THIRTY FIRST WEEK OF THE ORDINARY TIME A
FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF THE LATERAN BASILICA OF ST JOHN
Ezekiel 47:1-2,8-9,12
1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17
John 2:13-22
ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME (PS 63)
The temple of God was highly esteemed by the people of Israel. They had special love for the temple and synagogues. They never neglected or relegated visiting the temple of Jerusalem for their special feast. They adore the temple and their synagogue. These places of worship are houses of God, where the people are privileged to encounter their supreme God. They take pride in them and hold these places of worship in highest esteem.
For the temples, synagogues and the churches are symbols of the heavenly kingdom. They are places where God abides or resides. They are places where the divine grace flows into the life of the human person. They are places where the Holy of Holies show the might of his strength in attending to the yearnings of his people and where the people give sincere worship to God.
Jesus was filled with so much love for the temple of God and their synagogues. His life revolves around these places. And in fact, he came to purify the temple and keep it the way God intends it to be. And he was not joking with this task. He went into the temple as in the gospel reading of today and drove out all those who were making the temple something else. And he did this with so much passion, zeal and strength. Not minding the risk, not even considering the implications of going against the priests, Scribes and the Pharisees who were custodians of the temple. His intention is to purify the temple and bring out its original intention of being the place of encounter, a sacred place and the house of God as he declared.
Zeal consumed our Lord Jesus Christ. He stood out and did the extra ordinary in all ramifications. He even declared the very truth but for the Jews an abomination, to the effect that he will destroy this temple and build it up again in three days. He was not talking about the brick walls or the ornamentations in the temple. But Jesus meant the spirit, the purpose, the utility and the value of the temple to humanity.
What value do you attach to the temple and our churches? How much do you love the temple, the church and the house of God.? What amount of zeal drives you toward the temple and our churches, to contribute towards its beauty, building up and making it resplendent?
How much respect and honour do we pay to the temple also? What do you even take the churches of God for? A place of abode of our God, a place of prayer or what? How much time do you spend with the Lord in this place of prayer? Do you ever value, adore and respect the church, the house of God or the Church?
Today, Jesus teaches us the value, worth and purpose of the house of God, the Church, the oratories, the chapels and the places dedicated to the worship of God, these are places of encounter with our God which Christ has elevated by his death and resurrection to be places of salvation sacred places and acting as vehicles of grace to humanity.
The feast of the Lateran Basilica of Saint John is the first place of worship given to the church under the Emperor Constantine after his conversion to Christianity. It is the seat of the Church of Rome. The cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. And it stands as the center, the headquarter of the Church in the whole world.
We celebrate this feast worldwide to recognize the centrality of the Christian church which house its headquarters in this Church. It is the first church dedicated before the emergence of Saint Peter Basilica and the Vatican City. Saint John Lateran is still the cathedral of Rome till date.
We are therefore encouraged to be zealous for the house of God both in its physical nature, by supporting the growth, construction and development and maintenance of the Church. We, the members of the Church are also the temples of the Holy Spirit where God resides, as such we must strive towards purity, holiness and humility. God expects us to be zealous in doing all these.
Heavenly Father, you have given us the temple as a foretaste of the heavenly city. May we be zealous in maintaining the sacredness, beauty and sanctity of these sacred places entrusted to us. May they continue to be for us places of divine encounter where God resides and talks to us, grace flows and mercy rests on us. Grant that we may keep supporting, maintenance and building it up, being zealous in making it a place of abode of our God, visiting, praying and adoring our God there. And may our prayers and request be heard and our supplications and sacrifices be accepted through Christ our Lord.
Fr Norbert Uchuno
