Maryland Catholic Women’s Conference
Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran
St. Mark Parish, Catonsville
November 9th, 2024
More Than a Building
Usually we think of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome as the Pope’s Cathedral, but today’s feast reminds us that, as Bishop of Rome, his true cathedral is St. John Lateran – the first Catholic basilica in Rome, dedicated in 324, some 1700 years ago, by Pope Slyvester. There are major basilicas in Rome such as St. Mary Major, and minor basilicas around the world such as our own Baltimore Basilica, but there is only one archbasilica, St. John Lateran, known as “Mother and Head of All Churches in Rome and in the World.” It is dedicated to Christ under the patronage both of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist and takes its name from the palace of the Laterano family upon which the ancient basilica was originally built.
The popes resided at St. John Lateran until the Middle Ages, and you won’t be surprised to learn that this building has suffered deterioration and destructive fires through the centuries. At the end of the 9th century, it was nearly destroyed by an earthquake. Two fires in the 14th century led to the rebuilding of this basilica in the late 15th century by Pope Sixtus V and the interior was refurbished in the late 17th century. Finally, it’s imposing façade was added in 1735, emblazoned with the image of Christ Triumphant. During World War II, St. John Lateran served as a shelter and more recently was damaged by bombs planted by the Mafia.
Strong and Tall
In spite of all the calamities it has suffered, St. John Lateran still stands strong and tall. It has been renewed, indeed rebuilt, time and again while preserving elements from the ancient basilica. It is crowded with worshippers and pilgrims every day of the year, and remains the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome where the Pope presides on solemn occasions. If you haven’t already done so, I hope you will someday visit St. John Lateran!
Its history is like the history of the Church herself. Travelling through history, the Church has been beset by everything imaginable, including brutal persecutions that have produced many martyrs, witnesses to Jesus Christ who shed their blood for him and for their faith. Scandals through the centuries have been like earthquakes in the Church’s life. Crises have been like fires which consumed the faith of many. Deterioration in the Church’s mission has resulted from indifference, presumption, corruption, clericalism – the list is long. Perhaps the greatest proof of the Church’s divine origins is the mere fact that, like St. John Lateran, the Church has survived, not as an artifact of history but as the living, breathing Body of Christ of which you and I are the members.
Living Stones
But we can bring the history of St. John Lateran even closer to home. For what we celebrate today is not so much a building of stone but rather the living stones that constitute the Church’s membership, that’s you and me, the baptized, who are part of the Body of Christ. Like St. John Lateran and like the Church herself, in our journey through life, in our personal histories, we experience challenges, sorrow, failings, burdens, and wounds. Like St. John Lateran and like the Church herself, you and I need continually to be repaired, renewed, indeed rebuilt. We call it, “ongoing conversion”.
And what should bring us so much joy on this feast day and in the wonderful conference you have organized is this: Just as Christ foretold that the temple of his body would die and then rise, so too the Church herself and we who are members of the Church follow him in dying to our sins and rising anew – and this is only possible because the Lord loves us and gave his life for us, because Christ is with us in the power of the Spirit, because his saving power has not ceased but reaches us today, full strength. Christ’s renewing truth and love, his personal presence reaches us in the Eucharist where we enter into his sacrifice and receive his Body & Blood. Christ’s reconciling, healing love, reaches us through the Sacrament of Reconciliation in which our sins are forgiven. Christ’s Word of truth and love, capable of transforming our hearts, reaches us through the Scriptures, through the Church’s teaching, and through one another as you discuss today among yourselves the things that really matter, what is at the core of your lives.
Architectural Plans
All of us, myself very much included, have some rebuilding and renewing to do. But St. Paul in today’s second reading would tell us to build carefully, to build only on the foundation that is Christ Jesus. Where, then, do we find the architectural plans to repair, renew, rebuild? You have identified those plans yourselves, in the theme of your conference, “Living the Beatitudes”.
For the Beatitudes, as Pope Benedict XVI observed, are Christ’s self-portrait, not mere moral precepts, more rules that we struggle to follow. Rather the Beatitudes form a beautiful mosaic of Christ who speaks to our hearts and attract us by the beauty of his love. Who was poor in spirit except the Son of Man with nowhere to lay his head? Who mourned for our sins more than Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane? Who thirsts for our holiness more than Jesus crucified who said, “I thirst”? Who loves us with a purer heart than he who is God from God & light from light? Who indeed was persecuted more than the One crucified between two thieves?
You couldn’t have chosen a better theme to take you to the heart of the Gospel. May the Holy Spirit come upon you abundantly, illuminating your hearts with Christ, the light of the world, and manifesting to each of you and all of you how to live the Beatitudes with great generosity and joy. God bless you and keep you always in his love!