Our membership in Christ and the Church is not an individualistic notion. Stay in constant conversation with Jesus and his Church.
Sunday, Nov. 9, is the Feast of St. John Lateran in Rome. Mass readings: Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9; 1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17; John 2:13-22.
St. John Lateran is the pope’s true cathedral (not St. Peter’s Basilica). And thus, in celebrating this feast, we celebrate the unity of the Church. The pope’s work is to unite and strengthen the members of the Church, whom the devil would like to sift (divide) like wheat (see Luke 22:31). On this feast, we do well to examine a few teachings about the Church from today’s readings.
Jesus never wrote a book. Instead, he taught disciples and entrusted his teachings specifically to 12 rather ordinary men, telling them to go out into the whole world. So much of the Lord’s plan seems to depend upon weak human beings. God can work even through weak, sinful, inconsistent human agents to accomplish his mission.
Every Sunday in the Creed, we say, “I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.” How and why can we say this? Because the Church is not merely a human institution; the Church is also divine. The Church is the Body of Christ. He is the head of the Body, the Church, and the Holy Spirit indwells it.
The Gospel clearly shows that the Church, like any group that includes human beings, is always in need of cleansing and purification. We must not become too entangled with the world; or allow sins in our own members and clergy to go unaddressed. Nor can we become timid and fearful and not live the radical call to the Gospel or no longer proclaim it to others. Just as on the day that Jesus threw over the tables, the purification is painful and unsettling. Let him do his work. Stay faithful, and do not lose heart. Some, indeed many, have departed. But as for you, stay faithful; stay in constant conversation with Jesus and his Church.
Where is the Church? Jesus said, “for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:20-22).
And in the second reading, St. Paul says, “You are God’s building. … Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). Indeed, and we are all members of the one Body of Christ, the Church.
But note, too, St. Paul warns that our membership in Christ and the Church is not an individualistic notion: “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” (1 Corinthians 3:11).
