Fr Marco Lazzaron
oday, we celebrate the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. At the beginning of the 4th century AD, Rome began to change its traditional architectural appearance thanks to Emperor Constantine. He had the Basilica of St. John Lateran built, with a baptistery and a palace that became the residence of the bishops of Rome and the Cathedral of Rome. Therefore, St. John Lateran is the mother of all churches of the city of Rome and the world. It is the symbol of the faith of Christians in the early centuries, who felt the need to gather in a common, consecrated place to celebrate the Word of God and the Sacred Mysteries. (Piero Bargellini).
The Gospel of today presents us with the prophetic act of the purification of the Temple. The Temple, considered by the Jews as the place of God’s presence and encounter, had been reduced by some to a marketplace, a place of economic transactions (even dishonest ones), thus becoming a stage for personal gain. God had disappeared from their horizon, or rather, God had been reduced to a mere stool for their ego. Therefore, Jesus drives the sellers out of that place and says, “Take these things away, and do not make my Father’s house a marketplace!” Jesus speaks and acts with a unique authority, grounded in his consciousness of being the only-begotten Son of God. And the “sign” he will offer is his death and resurrection, which will make him the “true Temple,” the “place” of God’s living and true presence, where full access to God is granted.
Jesus does not compromise and does not allow the relationship with God to be tainted or manipulated by other interests. This is a serious danger: turning the things of God into a place of personal interest. Unfortunately, the demon of greed corrodes more hearts than one might think, and its damage within the Church is a sad reality. How, then, can we “rebuild and repair it”? By starting with ourselves, from our small part, trying to make God’s house a place of prayer; making our communities places where we pray, where we celebrate, where we announce and explain the Word, where beautiful relationships are built, where forgiveness and peace are brought about, and where we give ourselves for the good of others, etc.
For this to happen, by the grace of the Spirit, it is necessary for each person to start with themselves, from their own heart. In fact, the Temple of God is us, who, through baptism, have become his dwelling. The problem is that too often our hearts become marketplaces; we try to make God coexist with many things that are incompatible with Him. Today we have the opportunity to let our hearts be sifted, asking the Spirit to purify it from everything that diminishes our generosity, that suffocates our selflessness. Let us not be afraid to “throw into the air” what is wrong within us, confessing it, renouncing it with our choices, and throwing it out of our hearts.
May the Lord help us so that our hearts, our communities, and the Church, may be houses of prayer and fraternity, schools of peace where we learn and teach to Love one another.