This weekend, the Church celebrates the dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Why all this fuss over a church located on a hilltop in Rome? This church is significant because of its place in history. When he freed the Christian faith from centuries of persecution by becoming one himself, Emperor Constantine built this church to serve as the cathedral of Rome. There has been a Catholic cathedral on this spot ever since it was dedicated on November 9, 324 by Pope Sylvester I.
The cathedral still stands although little remains of the original building, destroyed several times by fires and an earthquake. Rebuilt in the 14th century, the present cathedral is a testimony that the Church, like a phoenix, will rise from its ashes. As the cathedral for the diocese of Rome, St. John Lateran is considered the “Mother and head of all the churches of Rome and the world.”
Cathedrals come in all shapes and sizes. Some, like the new ones recently dedicated in Oakland and Orange, California, are massive and striking. Others are rather unassuming, such as the one in Juneau, Alaska, which is even smaller than our church. Yet, they all share a common mission of drawing us together as people of faith, reminding us that we belong to a living faith community that extends beyond the boundaries of any parish. However majestic a church may be, it is only a building until people transform it into a house of prayer.
St. Paul tells his listeners, “You are God’s building.” We are the living stones, the building blocks resting upon the foundation of Jesus Christ that serve to make up the church. We will never stop building and re-building the temple, from our local parish church to our own cathedral nor should we. When the day comes that we no longer have zeal for God’s house, the church will cease to be a living entity. The Church is very much alive because many believers resonated with the words that the disciples recalled from scripture, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Does that describe you?
It does, if you have chosen to make stewardship part of your faith journey. I can picture some of you moaning right now, yet fewer concepts are more misunderstood than the notion of stewardship. Many think of it as another word for fund raising, but there is much more to stewardship than that.
Archbishop Thomas Murphy, who died in 1997, defined stewardship as the ability to share one’s gifts of life, time, talents, and resources with others with no strings attached and no conditions. God has given us many gifts with no strings attached for us to use as we see fit. Have you reciprocated as a sign of your gratitude?
The fullest potential of our parish has yet to be realized because some parishioners have yet to really get involved beyond simply coming to Mass. They give of their loose change instead of pledging; they remain noncommittal to offering their talents and time to the many ministries that are life giving to the parish.
Just as an acorn cannot become an oak tree overnight, we will not see the outcome of our efforts immediately, but I am convinced that if we all see ourselves as living stones with zeal for God’s house, God will bless our parish in ways that we have yet to imagine. I now invite ____________ to share with us his/her own experience in how stewardship made him/her a living stone in the church today.