Dedication of John Lateran
See Commentary on John 2:13-22 in John 2:13-25
Homily 1 - 2014
I might have told you before about a friend of mine who still comes to Mass, but who feels quite disillusioned with the Church, particularly its middle management. There are others I know who have dropped out from Mass altogether, totally disillusioned with the Church. Of those, some, I know, still retain an admiration for Christ and possibly a strong personal relationship. But Church? No way!
It is not the whole picture. There are the wonderful people like yourselves, still here, wanting to be here, glad to be here; and many of you prepared to give it your best shot. I keep being thrilled by others who want to join the Church. I like being regularly amazed by our God-of-surprises!
What has triggered these comments is today’s feast – commemorating the dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. The Lateran was the Church’s first official public building in Rome. It remains the Pope’s official church, even though he lives now in the Vatican and uses St Peters’ – which is lot bigger.
Actually, the feast does not turn me on at all. It reminds me of some of the things I don’t like about the Church – power, status, even its clericalism - all of which so easily counter the values lived and taught by Jesus. Yet, it also confronts me with something else. Like it or not, the Church, like any human community, needs organisation if it is to function. And the bigger communities get, the more they need good organisation.
All three readings today worked with the image of temple. The ancient world was saturated with religions and temples. But no more. The idea of temple does not fire the least emotional response in me. Still, there is a message: the Church is more than the organisation, more than the individual members. It has a whole other reality. It embodies mystery. Jesus likened it elsewhere to a vine, St Paul to a human body.
It is something vibrant, pulsing with life. Indeed, it is the Body of Christ. The life throbbing within it is the life of Christ. It is how Christ speaks to, listens to, heals, loves and enlivens the world today. Back then his body put him in contact with people. But his body also limited him. He felt tired; he needed food; he probably got sick occasionally; he could be, and was eventually, killed. Alive in his Church today, he still bears with human limitations and suffers from them. We, who are his Body, consistently let him down; we never live up to our radical dignity. As long as we are alive, we fall short. We sin.
I am oppressed by the power of sin. So are you. So is the bishop. So is Pope Francis. I am a sinner. I do not want to be. I am trying not to be. But I still am. I accept my own limitations as a disciple of his. Consistently, I have to let you, and everyone else, be the same. If the Church were totally sinless, there would be no one in it.
And yet, more importantly, I am here today because fellow Christians in the past have loved me; they have taught me; they have encouraged and supported me. There are beautiful people in the Church. I am constantly stunned by the sheer goodness of so many.
I believe that to stay in the Church today, it helps to have a sort of X-ray vision. We have to be aware of, alert to, the mystery that we are. We have to be secure enough, grounded in Christ enough, to live with tensions, perhaps even with contradictions. You who are parents know that you can love and at the same time be appalled by your children. That is the beautiful thing about love. That is what we need so much of if we are to survive, indeed, to thrive, in our Church today. No wonder Jesus insisted on it so much!