While we celebrate the dedication of the “mother church” of Western Christianity today, I think the image of the prophet Ezekiel goes to the heart of the matter. An Angel of the Lord comes to Ezekiel and describes to the prophet a temple from which rivers of living waters flow to all the corners of the earth.  Everywhere the river flows there is not just life, but abundant life – urbis et orbis – to all the cities and into the world. The living waters turn saltwater to fresh, gives all living creatures the chance to thrive and multiply, and all manner of game, fish, and produce are plentiful.

How can one not think of the living water in terms of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, which are so life giving? It is true, as it is true of the living waters of the Word of God proclaimed. I wonder if we so easily make the same connection with the People of God.  We too, in our best days, are a stream of living water moving out into the world. It is from the heart of the Church in which women and men in every age have gone into the world. Living the faith, gossiping the gospel over the backyard fences, proclaiming it aloud in the public square, doing the works of mercy and compassion because they were – and are – compelled by the love and grace of God – all of it a living Faith.

Maybe if Ezekiel were with us today, the Angel would show the prophet a view from space, with the rivers and waves of this living faith washing over the planet.

When St. Paul writes his letter and describes the Corinthians as God’s building he understands that we are more than these beautiful buildings. It is indeed good to have places like the Lateran Basilica as  “mother and head” – and to have our own parish church. But it is God’s grace and the faith of people that make the living waters, that make the Church a living entity composed of you and me, living stones, built upon the foundation of the Apostles with Christ as the cornerstone.

Today we celebrate the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, if you will, the source of the living water. We are reminded that we here at Sacred Heart are connected and receive the grace of those waters. Even as we are reminded that men and women build basilicas and churches. God builds a holy people for Himself. The fruit of the living waters.

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