Sunday November 9, 2008 Fr. Pat Grile

Our particular feast that we are having this weekend called the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, which is a big church building in Rome. I’ve never been there, in Rome, visited it to see it. It’s kind of a hard idea to get an angle on what to talk about or preach about. Because the Lateran Basilica actually is a church that was built way back in the 4^th century by the emperor Constantine. He was converted by his wife. He became a Christian and in the year 313 AD when he became a Christian then Christianity, which was a persecuted religion could not be openly and publicly practiced. So the number of Christians grew as they came out into public view. So they had to pick up and build and have larger places for them to gather to have their services. So this is a particular church built in Rome at that time, over 1600 years ago. It’s called the “Pope’s Church”. You know like we have over in St. Paul, the Cathedral of St. Paul, which is like the “Mother Church” of the Archdiocese, the Lateran Basilica is the “Pope’s Church” in Rome. He’s the bishop of Rome first. So it’s kind of like the mother church of the whole Roman Catholic church throughout the world.

I guess if you want to talk about buildings. You know this building is a church too. But maybe take it from this angle. I was thinking about it. The word church comes from a Greek word, ecclesia, which means to be called out, or to be separated from. So the meaning of the word church itself is not necessarily to hold together but it means to be coming out of, come out into the open, or being called to come out of our own little world into a larger world, a larger context to really realize we are the Body of Christ. Then we form community, not the other way around.

I find that kind of interesting. All of our readings, as Paul said in the second reading, he said, “You are the temple of God.” Now there’s a very beautiful consoling idea and truth. Everyone of us here tonight in this church, in this building, you and I are the temple, the dwelling place of God here on earth. We could destroy this place. It could fall to the ground in a pile of rubble. St. Alphonsus Parish would still continue. Because it isn’t the building. We could worship anywhere. We could go over to the gym, go over to the CSSR Hall. Fifty years ago when St. Alphonsus Parish got started they began their prayers and their worship services in the local schools or even in the first rectory over on France Avenue where they did the baptisms.

So it isn’t the building itself that makes the community, but it’s the people who come to it, you and me. And through our baptism God dwells in every one of us. So wherever you and I go tonight and throughout this week, we are the living church. You bring the presence of the Lord wherever you go. You go to a movie tonight. If you go back home and sit in front of the TV set. If you go to do some shopping at Cub. If you go to work tomorrow. If you go to school tomorrow. Wherever you go throughout this coming week you are the living temple of God. You will bring God wherever you go by the very fact that you have been baptized into Christ Jesus.

So treat yourself well. Be good to yourself, to your body. It is sacred. It is a temple. God dwells in every one of us.

I like to put this into another context. When I am doing marriage preparation for an engaged couple and I go through some of these ideas with them. And I tell them that their home where they will be living as husband and wife is a miniature church because they are called to be Jesus Christ for each other in the sacrament that they give to each other in their marriage. They are called to redeem each other, to forgive each other, to love each other, to be patient with each other, to love each other in the same way that Jesus loves them. And I tell them if you don’t see Jesus in each other as husband and wife I don’t know where else you are going to find Him. You are Christ for each other and it is on the altar of your home, of your sacrifice and of your giving of your living that you build this loving relationship for each other, that you are church.

I found something the other day that says it this way. A young woman and a young man meet, fall in love and get married. At this stage of their lives their agenda is their own happiness. They are in all probability good natured and sincere but they both possess the self-centeredness of youth. Then without full realizing the implication of their lives they begin a family. And from the moment their first child is born, unless they are very callous human beings, the young man and the young woman start to grow up. For the next 25 to 50 years every time they turn around any number of tiny, and not so tiny hands will be reaching out to them, seeking their time, their energy, their money, their car keys, their sympathy, their understanding, their hearts. As the kids grow up and mature so will the parents. For the next five decades the now not-so-young woman and the now not-so-young man will think of others beyond themselves. They will sacrifice. They will suffer. They will grow up. They will mature. And during the years of having and raising children they will be baptized, consecrated and sent forth. They will minister. They will bless. They will forgive. They will heal. They will be Jesus for their children and one another. They are church.

It doesn’t get any more real than that. You, spouses are church. You, the children are church. Everyone of us, whether we are married or single, divorced or separated, no matter how young or how old, we are the living temple of God here on earth. And wherever you and I go tonight and throughout this week we will bring Jesus to others.

Be good to yourselves, for God dwells in you and me. Your God thinks so much about you and me, to dwell inside of us, He in turn wants you and me to acknowledge that beautiful presence in every person around us.

We are church. We are called out of our selfishness into our generosity, into our forgiving, into our loving for one another. We are church.