The usual sequence of Sunday Gospels is interrupted as the Church celebrates the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. The Lateran Basilica in Rome is not the oldest church in Rome – but did you know that the Lateran Basilica is the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome – the place from where the Bishop of Rome, Pope Leo, leads his diocese even as he leads the church universal. The Lateran did not even start out as a church – it was a palace on the Lateran Hill that came into the possession of the Emperor Constantine. Later the emperor gifted it to the church and by 324 A.D. it was converted to become a church and was declared to be the “mother church” of all Christianity: ecclesia omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput – of all the churches in the city and the world, the mother and head. The underground and pilgrim Christians now had a permanent home – and so it has been for 1700 years.

I love the imagery from the first reading: “The angel brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water flowing out…” It is from the Prophet Ezekiel who is speaking to the Israelites exiled to Babylonia. They know that Jerusalem and the Temple are about to be destroyed, but Ezekiel tells them that one is not an everlasting Temple. And so he shares his vision of water flowing out from this heavenly, living temple. It is the water of life. It restores and renews everything. The plants flourish; the fish are plentiful. His message is that the exile will be for a while, but God is with them. Even now the Lord is at work renewing and rebuilding the Temple on a new foundation. No doubt the people wonder “when and where.”

Eventually the exile ends, the people return home and a new smaller temple is built. Over the years there were minor additions and enhancements. Just before the time of Christ, some 500 years or so later, Herod the Great did a major renovation and expansion. But here’s the question. Is this the temple that Ezekiel saw in his vision? Is there life flowing out of the temple renewing all things?

John the Baptist did not think so and he called all of Israel to repent and renew their true covenant bond with the Lord. Jesus did not think so. The temple of his day was not a wellspring of new life – it was a market place. “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up…But he was speaking about the temple of his Body.” 

Jesus is the temple that Ezekiel saw. Jesus is the source of the living water that can renew all things for those who can accept it. On the cross, blood and water flowed from his side, the source of the Church’s sacraments. Sacraments that Jesus instituted and commissioned his Apostles to celebrate, teach others to do the same, pass on the authority given them, and remind us all of what Jesus taught and did. In time, those Apostles wrote down the story – not everything, but as St. John says at the end of his gospel, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of [his] disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may [come to] believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31)

In this we have the blueprint for the new temple. As St. Paul says in the second reading: “for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there, namely, Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor 3:11) Jesus who is revealed in the Bible as Lord and Savior, as Messiah and Man, and as the sure foundation of the everlasting temple. With that in place, St. Paul will go on to explain, “you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.” (Eph 2:19-20). St. Paul is describing the Church seen in the world in its ministries of life and holiness built upon the Apostolic Tradition that Christ instituted when he told them to go to the ends of the earth. The Church that grew into the next generation as the Apostles appointed others to continue the mission – always remembering that Christ himself is the sole and irreplaceable foundation and the subsequent growth and ministries of the Church is built upon Christ, the capstone, that holds it all together.

All this put in place by our Lord, guided by the Holy Spirit “that you may [come to] believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” And so, St. Peter encourages us to be “…like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5)

Spiritual sacrifices of love, forgiveness, mercy, compassion – all virtues that flow from the living water of Christ with the love of God poured out into your heart.  This is why St. Paul reminds us in the second reading, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Cor 3:16)

What does this all mean? It is what the Catholic Church has always proclaimed: the ultimate foundation of the Church is Christ Himself — the one in whom revelation, salvation, and unity originate. In his human lifetime Jesus was the means of communication. He was the teacher and lesson to be learned. He was the continuity and fulfillment of God’s covenant promises. After his death and resurrection, the faith foundation in the world rests on the teachings and story of Jesus, but now continuity is dependent upon the sure transmission of the faith via the Apostles and those appointed by them. They are the foundation through whom Christ’s word and authority are transmitted. They are the foundation in witness and structure. You are called to be living stones in this divine, living edifice, pouring living water into the world.

Today, when we celebrate the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, we are celebrating so much more. We celebrate Christ the master builder, the apostolic workers in every age, and we celebrate you because you are the temple of God with the Spirit of God dwelling within. We celebrate to remind ourselves that we are, in part, what Ezekiel saw: holy temples from which pours into the world living water of faith and love that renews everything it touches.

In this Eucharist today, ask the Lord that “like living stones, [may you receive the grace to] be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”.