A reading from the prophecy of Ezekiel
(Chapter 47:1-2, 8-9, 12)
In this reading, Ezekiel describes a vision in which water flows from the temple, eventually reaching the sea. That water, originating in the house of God, turns the salt water fresh and nourishes living things.
God is everywhere and is contained nowhere, but God was present to the Jewish people in a particular way in the sanctuary, the holy of holies, in the temple in Jerusalem. And, of course, God is present to us in a particular way in our churches.
We don't see a river of water flowing from our churches, but does the Spirit of God flow from it in us, when we return to our homes and neighborhoods and workplaces? When we emerge from our houses of worship, do we bless the world around us as God has blessed us?
Responsorial Psalm
God is our refuge and our strength,
an ever-present help in distress.
Therefore, we fear not, though the earth be shaken
and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.
The psalm reminds us to rely on God and be faithful to him even in the face of trouble.
A reading from Saint Paul's first letter to the Corinthians
(Chapter 3:9c-11, 16-17)
"Do you not know," Paul asks the Christians in Corinth, "that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" This is news. God is everywhere. God dwells in a particular way in the tabernacle. But more—God dwells in each one of us. Each one of us, when we are in communion with the Lord, is a Holy of Holies, a tabernacle. It's something to be aware of, not only in the afterglow of receiving the Eucharist but wherever we go and whatever we do, and especially in the way we touch the lives of others.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke
(Chapter 18: 9-14)
This gospel passage describes the episode in which Jesus drove merchants and money changers from the temple. The Church reads this passage, in which we hear of people who have forgotten that the temple was not a commercial center but rather the focal point of God's presence among his people, on a feast day devoted not to the Lord or one of the saints, as most solemnities and feast days are. Rather, this feast celebrates to the dedication in 324 AD of a church formally known as the “Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Ss. John the Baptist and the Evangelist at the Lateran.” An inscription between the main doors calls it “of all the churches in the city and the world, the mother and head.’’
St. John Lateran, although it is outside the Vatican, is the cathedral church of the bishop of Rome—the pope—and, in that sense, the cathedral church for Catholics everywhere. It is important not only as an historic artifact but as the prototype of every church where people gather because they believe that Jesus Christ—raised from the dead in the temple of his body— is actually present among them, as he promised he would be; where God is actually present as his word is proclaimed; where Jesus Christ is present in flesh and blood in the bread and wine of the Eucharist.
It is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise—“there am I in the midst of them”—that should fill us with zeal, with
passion, for our encounter with the Lord, whether in St. John Lateran in Rome or in any church anywhere in the world.
✝️
Excerpts from the English translation of the Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL). All rights reserved.
Bill Ayres was a founder, with the late singer Harry Chapin, of WhyHunger. He has been a radio and TV broadcaster for 40 years and has two weekly Sunday-night shows on WPLJ, 95.5 FM in New York. He is a member of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church in Centerport, New York.
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