From Deacon John J. Kren
Today is the celebration of the dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran. The Basilica is the Pope’s church, his seat, just as The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond is the seat of Bishop Knestout. John Lateran started in Rome in 325 and it is the oldest open church in Rome. It is wonderful story.
The gospel is referred to as the clearing of the temple. We have been around long enough to realize that when it comes to scripture, the word of God — that there is always more, that there are different meanings, different levels. Each time we encounter scripture it affects us differently, each time is something new. Today, as we approach the end of the Liturgical year you and I are called to dedicate ourselves, all of us, to dedicate the temple of our bodies.
We should flip over the tables of the money changers in the way we live. Learn to use ourselves in service of Christ and his people, use ourselves as Christ would.
Like the Basilica of St. John Lateran, today we should ask ourselves, to what do we want to dedicate ourselves …
What do we want our lives to be? Do we seek baseness or beatitude? Each one of us must be careful how they build, for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there.
namely, Jesus Christ. What do you want the temple of your body to be? Do you seek maintenance or magnificence? What do you want your world to be? Do you seek resignation or renaissance? What do you want after life to be? Do you seek death, or do you seek the face of God — the fullness of that wonder, that marvel which is already working itself out in your lives.
Seek to make yourself greater. Seek to make your life more vivid. Seek to find a true home in the Church. Seek to expand the horizons of your imagination. Seek to make your life more subdued and cheerful. Seek to make yourself more cultured and more common. Seek God. Seek the Lord. Dedicate yourself.