Busting Myths

Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran
    [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.]  Sometimes we hear things that sound good or make apparent sense, which, in the end, do not hold up.  I’m the sort of guy who generally fills up my gas tank when it’s half full, and I started doing this because, when I was young, someone (I can’t remember for sure who) told me that gas could freeze in the tank in the winter if there was room in the tank.  I recently mentioned that, and the other person challenged me on the factuality of that claim.  And it turns out, gas freezes somewhere between -40º and -200º Fahrenheit.  So it’s not going to freeze.  And even if the temperature at which gas freezes is higher, it would freeze whether they tank was half full or entirely full.  So, myth busted.  
    We might have heard another myth: that I can worship God just as well outside a church as I can inside a church.  People may say that they feel closer to God in nature.  Or they feel the comfort of God’s presence best in their home.  Or, in a post-COVID world, some will say that they prefer to attend Mass via livestream.  Certainly, God is present everywhere, indoors and outdoors.  Certainly our homes are places of comfort.  And, for a while, many people’s legitimate only access point to the Mass was through a computer screen.

    But as we celebrate the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran today, if those statements about worshiping God that I just mentioned are true, then why do we celebrate a church, albeit beautiful and awe-inspiring, in Rome?  And why even bother coming here?  If we can access God, who is omnipresent, anywhere, what’s the point in going to church on Sunday or any other day?
    The tricky thing about bad teachings is that something which is false tends to include something that is true.  If it had no truthful aspect, we would reject it outright.  But if it has some truth to it, we might choose to believe because we recognize some aspect of truth.  So yes, God is present everywhere.  Yes, people can easily experience God in nature.  Yes, God does sometimes give us comfort, and our homes can remind us of that comforting presence of God.  And yes, what churches broadcast through the livestream is the Mass, and for the sick or those who cannot drive to Mass, that is a better way to celebrate Sunday, the Lord’s Day, rather than just watching the NFL or playing Yahtzee.  
    But just because God is everywhere doesn’t mean He is equally present everywhere.  God can be experienced through a beautiful sunset, or a powerful storm.  But the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, brings God’s presence to us in a way that occurs no where else outside of a church.  I promise you that the Eucharist will not materialize before you in your hunting blind on Saturday.  Saints like St. Clare have had visions of the Eucharist (which is why she is the patron saint of television), but the unique presence of Christ in the Eucharist comes with a church building.  God makes Himself present to us in a special way and even wants us to receive the Body and Blood of Christ so that we can have God within us.  And receiving the Eucharist generally happens during Mass.  We may not always feel different from receiving the Eucharist, but we are different.  St. John Vianney said, “If we really understood the Mass we would die of joy.”  Extreme joy may not be your experience at Mass every week, every month, or even yearly.  But just because I don’t experience an emotional response doesn’t mean that the most beautiful union between God and man isn’t taking place.  
    Just because we feel comfortable in our house doesn’t mean that we are experiencing the consolation of God.  The comfort that God came to give was at a much deeper level than just physical comfort.  He came to heal our souls.  There are many ways in which we can be opposed to God and yet feel physically good.  Maybe it’s drinking too much, sleeping when we should go to Mass, or engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage.  Those things all feel physically good, and yet do not mean that God is with us our supporting us.  Also, the Lord reminded us that following Him may often include suffering of various kinds, which means that we are not made for comfort.
    Plus, while we all should have a personal relationship with the Lord, it’s not just me and Jesus.  Being baptized means that God joins us to the entire Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, and we are connected to each other.  That cannot be fully picked up simply by staying at home, even with other family members, because the Church is not just one family or even just one ethnic group or nationality.  To be Catholic means that we embrace all who want to follow Christ.
    Lastly, watching the Mass on the computer or on TV never means nor meant that we attended Mass.  One can watch the Mass as a lesser way of sanctifying the Lord’s Day, but to truly attend Mass one must be physically present.  My earlier words also apply: you cannot receive the Eucharist through livestream, and you cannot fully participate in the larger Mystical Body of Christ on your own through livestream.  If one is sick or homebound, then it helps us remember what we would want to attend if were were able.  But watching does not equal physical participation.
    We celebrate a church building today because it is a kind of sacrament.  It is a physical reality, instituted by Christ, which conveys invisible realities and causes graces that flow from the Paschal Mystery.  The physical building reminds us that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, each having a role to play to create the temple not made by hands in heaven, where all the elect are joined together, each fulfilling a role.  May we not accept the myths that we can worship God on our terms (often guided by our own laziness or preferences), but give ourselves to the worship that our Lord told us would be acceptable worship: worship in spirit and truth.  [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.] 

Filling a Niche in the Temple of God

Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

St. Peter

St. Simon

 One of my great blessings in life has been to travel to Rome several times.  I first went there through a study abroad program when I was a junior in college.  My most recent trip was in 2013.  Each time I go, I try to stop by all four of the Patriarchal Basilicas: St. Peter, St. Paul Outside the Walls, St. Mary Major, and St. John Lateran.  In that last basilica, the Pope’s cathedral church, whose dedication we celebrate today, there are huge niches going up the nave of the church.  And in each niche is a larger-than-life marble statue of the apostles: Peter with a book and the keys of the kingdom of heaven; Simon with a book and the saw by which he was martyred; St. Jude with a spear; St. Paul with a book and the sword by which he was martyred; St. James the Greater with the pilgrim’s staff; St. Thomas with a carpenter’s square; St. Philip with a cross and stepping on a dragon; St. Matthew with a large book and standing on a bag of money; St. Bartholomew with a knife and his flayed skin (the tradition of how he was martyred); St. James the Lesser with a small book and a staff; St. John with a book and eagle; St. Andrew with the style of cross that bears his name.  All of these statues add to the grandeur of the pope’s cathedral, and I’m always in awe and inspired every time I go to visit.  It is refreshing to see these princes of the church and think about the effect that these twelve, mostly uneducated, men had on the history of the world!

St. Jude

St. Paul

            St. Paul reminds us that we are the temple of God.  As I mentioned when we celebrated our own anniversary of the dedication of this church, we are the living stones which make up the temple of God, and we all have a role in helping each other, because no one stone alone makes a grand building.  But today, as we celebrate the Dedication of St. John Lateran, I would like to encourage us to think of the temple of God as having niches which are ready for each of us.

St. James the Greater

St. Thomas

            The first thing we have to do is fill that niche.  The apostles didn’t get their large, marble statues for running away at the crucifixion.  They got those statues because after they ran away they came back.  And they preached Jesus all throughout the known world and invited others to follow Jesus and change their lives to the way that Jesus wants us to live.  All but one died for this proclamation.  Even the one who was not martyred, St. John, died in exile on Patmos.  If we wish to fill the niche of the heavenly Jerusalem, the temple of the Lamb, with our persons, then we too are called to follow Jesus, even if we have abandoned Him before, and proclaim Him to others, inviting them to follow Jesus.

St. Philip

St. Matthew

            To often, though, our “statues” are covered with cobwebs, dirt, dust, and filth.  And it’s at those times that Jesus has to come in and clean us off.  There are two ways this happens: the good way, where God invites us back to Him and we respond, confessing our sins to God through the priest in the Sacrament of Penance, and allowing God to take a warm rag to clean us off; or the bad way, where God, who had still invited us to return to Him, respects our free will to choose against Him, and allows us to choose Hell over Him, assigning that niche to someone else.  I’m sure we want to occupy the niche that was made for us, and yet how often do we neglect to make regular confessions?  Advent is coming up, and many people go to the communal penance liturgy where we have multiple priests, but adults should go at least four times per year.  I myself confess every few weeks, for the forgiveness of my sins, and to grow in holiness, and make sure that I will fill that niche that God has set aside for me in His temple.

St. Bartholomew

St. James the Lesser

            The second thing is to imagine what item would be associated with us?  What item would represent our life, as so many of the statues have items that represent their deaths?  Maybe it’s a telephone because we call our friends and family to make sure they’re doing well.  Maybe it’s cooking utensils because we volunteer at funeral luncheons, breakfasts, or dinners.  Maybe it’s a rake or shovel since we help out with cleaning the church grounds or the cemetery.  Maybe it’s a book because we teach others about God or write about God.  The options only depend on how we life our lives as disciples of God, and what we do to further the Kingdom of God. 

St. John

St. Andrew

            God has set a place aside for us in His heavenly temple.  We won’t be marble statues, but we will be adding to the beauty of the temple of God and offering Him constant worship.  By following Christ, we will gain a spot in the heavenly Jerusalem, and will gladden that city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High, because we will be where He created us to be: in heaven with Him.  But let’s make sure that we get there, because the road is narrow to salvation, and wide to perdition.  Only by doing our best to stay, all of our life, on that straight and narrow path, and then returning to God to confess our sins when we stray, will we be able to enjoy a place in the temple of God and truly be a masterpiece, even more awesome than the apostle statues at St. John Lateran.