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Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 11-09-12, Feast, Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
USCCB.org/RNAB ^ | 11-09-12 | Revised New American Bible

Posted on 11/08/2012 8:20:38 PM PST by Salvation

November 9, 2012

 

Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

 

Reading 1 Ez 47:1-2, 8-9, 12

The angel brought me
back to the entrance of the temple,
and I saw water flowing out
from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east,
for the façade of the temple was toward the east;
the water flowed down from the southern side of the temple,
south of the altar.
He led me outside by the north gate,
and around to the outer gate facing the east,
where I saw water trickling from the southern side.
He said to me,
"This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah,
and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.
Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,
and there shall be abundant fish,
for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;
their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.
Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,
for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.
Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine."

Responsorial Psalm Ps 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9

R. (5) The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!
God is our refuge and our strength,
an ever-present help in distress.
Therefore, we fear not, though the earth be shaken
and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.
R. The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!
There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;
God will help it at the break of dawn.
R. The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!
The LORD of hosts is with us;
our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
Come! behold the deeds of the LORD,
the astounding things he has wrought on earth.
R. The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!

Reading 2 1 Cor 3:9c-11, 16-17

Brothers and sisters:
You are God's building.
According to the grace of God given to me,
like a wise master builder I laid a foundation,
and another is building upon it.
But each one must be careful how he builds upon it,
for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there,
namely, Jesus Christ.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God's temple,
God will destroy that person;
for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.

Gospel Jn 2:13-22

Since the Passover of the Jews was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,
as well as the money-changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen,
and spilled the coins of the money-changers
and overturned their tables,
and to those who sold doves he said,
"Take these out of here,
and stop making my Father's house a marketplace."
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture,
Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him,
"What sign can you show us for doing this?"
Jesus answered and said to them,
"Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up."
The Jews said,
"This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,
and you will raise it up in three days?"
But he was speaking about the temple of his Body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this,
and they came to believe the Scripture
and the word Jesus had spoken.


TOPICS: Catholic; General Discusssion; Prayer; Worship
KEYWORDS: catholic; ordinarytime; prayer; saints
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Information:
Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome
Feast Day: November 9

21 posted on 11/09/2012 7:37:53 AM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: All
Interactive Saints for Kids

St. Theodore Tiro

 
Feast Day: November 9
Born: (around) 280 :: Died: 319

St. Theodore was born of a noble family. He was still young when he joined the Imperial army.

Soon after he joined, the Emperor announced that all Christians must offer sacrifice to idols. Even as a new soldier in the Roman army he chose to die for the faith rather than worship idols, which he knew, was a sin.

Although he was young, he knew how to keep his soul pure. He was wise and considered the devil a real enemy. When his troop camped for the winter in the country of Pontus, all the soldiers took part in services to the pagan gods. But as a Christian, Theodore knew that these gods did not exist and refused to join them. He was arrested.

"How dare you profess a religion which the emperor punishes with death?" demanded the governor. Without hesitation, the young soldier answered, "I do not know your gods. Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, is my God. If you take my answer as an offense, cut off my tongue. Every part of my body is ready to suffer when God calls for this sacrifice."

The pagan judges let Theodore go, believing that he would change his mind if he was given time to think. Theodore immediately went to the Temple of Isis and set it on fire.

Then he was arrested and brought before the judge. The judges first tried to win him with kindness. When that treatment did not work, they tried to frighten him by describing the tortures he would go through. But Theodore boldly made the Sign of the Cross and replied, “As long as I have breath, I will confess the name of Christ.” In the end, they sent him to be tortured.

When the suffering soldier was led back into prison, some said that angels came to comfort him. After he had been questioned three times, he was finally burned to death in the year 306. A Christian who was standing nearby, saw his soul rise like a flash of light to heaven.

A beautiful church was later built to preserve his ashes and great crowds of people go there to pray to this martyr.


22 posted on 11/09/2012 7:42:44 AM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: All
The Rite of [a Catholic Church] Dedication Now
Catholic Word of the Day: ST. JOHN LATERAN, 05-26-09
Solemn Mass in the Usus Antiquior (TLM) at the Lateran [Catholic/Orthodox Caucus]
Pontiff Reflects on the Last Supper During Mass at St. John Lateran
THE DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH OF OUR SAVIOUR - ST JOHN LATERAN)
[Bishop of Rome -- Pope Benedict XVI]to be installed at St. John Lateran, the Pope's cathedral
75th Anniversary of the Lateran Pacts
23 posted on 11/09/2012 9:15:50 AM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: All
 
Catholic
Almanac:
Friday, November 9
Liturgical Color: White

Today is the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. This basilica is the oldest of the 4 major basilicas of Rome. It became the Cathedral of Rome around 311 A.D.

24 posted on 11/09/2012 5:48:52 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Salvation
John
  English: Douay-Rheims Latin: Vulgata Clementina Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
  John 2
13 And the pasch of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Et prope erat Pascha Judæorum, et ascendit Jesus Jerosolymam : και εγγυς ην το πασχα των ιουδαιων και ανεβη εις ιεροσολυμα ο ιησους
14 And he found in the temple them that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting. et invenit in templo vendentes boves, et oves, et columbas, et numularios sedentes. και ευρεν εν τω ιερω τους πωλουντας βοας και προβατα και περιστερας και τους κερματιστας καθημενους
15 And when he had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, he drove them all out of the temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers he poured out, and the tables he overthrew. Et cum fecisset quasi flagellum de funiculis, omnes ejecit de templo, oves quoque, et boves, et numulariorum effudit æs, et mensas subvertit. και ποιησας φραγελλιον εκ σχοινιων παντας εξεβαλεν εκ του ιερου τα τε προβατα και τους βοας και των κολλυβιστων εξεχεεν το κερμα και τας τραπεζας ανεστρεψεν
16 And to them that sold doves he said: Take these things hence, and make not the house of my Father a house of traffic. Et his qui columbas vendebant, dixit : Auferte ista hinc, et nolite facere domum patris mei, domum negotiationis. και τοις τας περιστερας πωλουσιν ειπεν αρατε ταυτα εντευθεν μη ποιειτε τον οικον του πατρος μου οικον εμποριου
17 And his disciples remembered, that it was written: The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up. Recordati sunt vero discipuli ejus quia scriptum est : Zelus domus tuæ comedit me. εμνησθησαν δε οι μαθηται αυτου οτι γεγραμμενον εστιν ο ζηλος του οικου σου καταφαγεται με
18 The Jews, therefore, answered, and said to him: What sign dost thou shew unto us, seeing thou dost these things? Responderunt ergo Judæi, et dixerunt ei : Quod signum ostendis nobis, quia hæc facis ? απεκριθησαν ουν οι ιουδαιοι και ειπον αυτω τι σημειον δεικνυεις ημιν οτι ταυτα ποιεις
19 Jesus answered, and said to them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Respondit Jesus, et dixit eis : Solvite templum hoc, et in tribus diebus excitabo illud. απεκριθη ιησους και ειπεν αυτοις λυσατε τον ναον τουτον και εν τρισιν ημεραις εγερω αυτον
20 The Jews then said: Six and forty years was this temple in building; and wilt thou raise it up in three days? Dixerunt ergo Judæi : Quadraginta et sex annis ædificatum est templum hoc, et tu in tribus diebus excitabis illud ? ειπον ουν οι ιουδαιοι τεσσαρακοντα και εξ ετεσιν ωκοδομηθη ο ναος ουτος και συ εν τρισιν ημεραις εγερεις αυτον
21 But he spoke of the temple of his body. Ille autem dicebat de templo corporis sui. εκεινος δε ελεγεν περι του ναου του σωματος αυτου
22 When therefore he was risen again from the dead, his disciples remembered, that he had said this, and they believed the scripture, and the word that Jesus had said. Cum ergo resurrexisset a mortuis, recordati sunt discipuli ejus, quia hoc dicebat, et crediderunt scripturæ et sermoni quem dixit Jesus. οτε ουν ηγερθη εκ νεκρων εμνησθησαν οι μαθηται αυτου οτι τουτο ελεγεν και επιστευσαν τη γραφη και τω λογω ω ειπεν ο ιησους

25 posted on 11/09/2012 5:49:09 PM PST by annalex (fear them not)
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To: annalex
13. And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

BEDE; He did not stay many days there, on account of the Passover, which was approaching: And the Jews' passover was at hand.

ORIGEN; But what need of saying, of the Jews, when no other nation had the rite of the Passover? Perhaps' because there are two sorts of Passover, one human, which is celebrated in a way very different from the design of Scripture; another the true and Divine, which is kept in spirit and in truth. To distinguish it then from the Divine, it is said, of the Jews.

ALCUIN. And He went up to Jerusalem. The Gospels mention two journeys of our Lord to Jerusalem, one in the first year of His preaching, before John was sent to prison, which is the journey now spoken of; the other in the year of His Passion. Our Lord has set us here an example of careful obedience to the Divine commands. For if the Son of God fulfilled the injunctions of His own law, by keeping the festivals, like the rest, with what holy zeal should we servants prepare for and celebrate them?

ORIGEN; In a mystical sense, it was meet that after the marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the banquet and wine, our Lord should take His mother, brethren, and disciples to the land of consolation (as Capernaum signifies ) to console, by the fruits that were to spring up and by abundance of fields, those who received His discipline, and the mind which had conceived Him by the Holy Ghost; and who were there to be holpen. For some there are bearing fruit, to whom our Lord Himself comes down with the ministers of His word and disciples, helping such, His mother being present. Those however who are called to Capernaum, do not seem capable of His presence long: that is, a land which admits lower consolation, is not able to take in the enlightenment from many doctrines; being capable to receive few only.

ALCUIN. Or Capernaum, we may interpret "a most beautiful village," and so it signifies the world, to which the Word of the Father came down.

BEDE; But He continued there only a few days, because he lived with men in this world only a short time.

ORIGEN; Jerusalem, as our Savior Himself said, is the city of the great King, into which none of those who remain on earth ascend, or enter. Only the soul which has a certain natural loftiness, and clear insight into things invisible, is the inhabitant of that city. Jesus alone goes up thither. But His disciples seem to have been present afterwards. The zeal of Your house has eaten me up. But it is as though in every one of the disciples who went up, it was Jesus who went up.

14. And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
15. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;
16. And said to them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house a house of merchandise.
17. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of your house has eaten me up.

BEDE; Our Lord on coming to Jerusalem, immediately entered the temple to pray; giving us an example that, wheresoever we go, our first visit should be to the house of God to pray. And He found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting.

AUG. Such sacrifices were prescribed to the people, in condescension to their carnal minds; to prevent them from turning aside to idols. They sacrificed sheep, and oxen, and doves.

BEDE; Those however, who came from a distance, being unable to bring with them the animals required for sacrifice, brought the money instead. For their convenience the Scribes and Pharisees ordered animals to be sold in the temple, in order that, when the people had bought and offered them afterwards, they might sell them again, and thus make great profits. And changers of money sitting; changers of money sat at the table to supply change to buyers and sellers. But our Lord disapproving of any worldly business in His house, especially one of so questionable a kind, drove out all engaged in it.

AUG. He who was to be scourged by them, was first of all the scourger; and when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple.

THEOPEHYL. Nor did He cast out only those who bought and sold, but their goods also: The sheep, and the oxen and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables, i.e. of the money changers, which were coffers of pence.

ORIGEN; Should it appear something out of the order of things, that the Son of God should make a scourge of small cords, to drive them out of the temple? We have one answer in which some take refuge, viz. the divine power of Jesus, Who, when He pleased, could extinguish the wrath of His enemies however innumerable, and quiet the tumult of their minds: The Lord brings the counsel of the heathen to nought. This act indeed exhibits no less power, than His more positive miracles; nay rather, more than the miracle by which water was converted into wine: in that there the subject-matter was inanimate, here, the minds of so many thousands of men are overcome.

AUG. It is evident that this was done on two several occasions; the first mentioned by John, the last by the other three.

ORIGEN; John says here that He drove out the sellers from the temple; Matthew, the sellers and buyers. The number of buyers was much greater than of the sellers: and therefore to drive them out was beyond the power of the carpenter's Son, as He was supposed to be, had He not by His divine power put all things under Him, as it is said.

BEDE; The Evangelist sets before us both natures of Christ: the human in that His mother accompanied Him to Capernaum; the divine, in that He said, Make not My Father's house an house of merchandise

CHRYS. Lo, He speaks of God as His Father, and they are not angry, for they think He means it in a common sense. But afterwards when He spoke more openly, and showed that He meant equality, they were enraged. In Matthew's account too, on driving them out, He says, You have made it (My Father's house) a den of thieves. This was just: before His Passion, and therefore He uses severer language. But the former being at the beginning of His miracles, His answer is milder and more indulgent.

AUG. So that temple was still a figure only, and our Lord cast out of it all who came to it as a market. And what did they sell? Things that were necessary for the sacrifice of that time. What if He had found men drunken? If the house of God ought not to be a house of merchandise, ought it to be a house of drunkenness?

CHRYS. But why did Christ use such violence? He was about to heal on the Sabbath day, and to do many things which appeared to them transgressions of the Law. That He might not appear therefore to be acting contrary to God, He did this at His own peril; and thus gave them to understand, that He who exposed Himself to such peril to defend the decency of the house, did not despise the Lord of that house. For the same reason, to show His agreement with God, He said not, the Holy house, but, My Father's house.

It follows, And His disciples remembered what was written; The zeal of your house has eaten me up.

BEDE; His disciples seeing this most fervent zeal in Him, remembered that it was from zeal for His Father's house that our Savior drove the ungodly from the temple.

ALCUIN. Zeal, taken in a good sense, is a certain fervor of the Spirit, by which the mind, all human fears forgotten, is stirred up to the defense of the truth.

AUG. He then is eaten up with zeal for God's house, who desires to correct all that he sees wrong there; and, if he cannot correct, endures and mourns. In your house you busy yourself to prevent matters going wrong; in the house of God, where salvation is offered, ought you to be indifferent? Have you a friend? admonish him gently; a wife? coerce her severely; a maid-servant? even compel her with stripes. Do what you are able, according to your station.

ALCUIN. To take the passage mystically, God enters His Church spiritually every day, and marks each one's behavior there. Let us be careful then, when we are in God's Church, that we indulge not in stories, or jokes, or hatreds, or lusts, lest on a sudden He come and scourge us, and drive us out of His Church.

ORIGEN; It is possible even for the dweller in Jerusalem to incur guilt, and even the most richly endowed may stray. And unless these repent speedily, they lose the capacity wherewith they were endued. He finds them in the temple, i.e. in sacred places, or in the office of enunciating the Church's truths, some who make His Father's house an house of merchandise; i.e. who expose to sale the oxen whom they ought to reserve for the plough, lest by turning back they should become unfit for the kingdom of God: also who prefer the unrighteous mammon to the sheep, from which they have the material of ornament; also who for miserable gain abandon the watchful care of them who are called metaphorically doves, without all gall or bitterness. Our Savior finding these in the holy house, makes a scourge of small cords, and drives them out, together with the sheep and oxen exposed for sale, scatters the heaps of money, as unbeseeming in the house of God, and overthrows the tables set up in the minds of the covetous, forbidding them to sell doves in the house of God any longer. I think too that He meant the above, as a mystical intimation that whatsoever was to be performed with regard to that sacred oblation by the priests, was not to be performed after the manner of material oblations, and that the law was not to be observed as the carnal Jews wished. For our Lord, by driving away the sheep and oxen, and ordering away the doves, which were the most common offerings among the Jews, and by overthrowing the tables of material coins, which in a figure only, not in truth, bore the Divine stamp, (i.e. what according to the letter of the law seemed good,) and when with His own hand He scourged the people, He as much as declared that the dispensation was to be broken up and destroyed, and the kingdom translated to the believing from among the Gentiles.

AUG. Or, those who sell in the Church, are those who seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. They who will not be bought, think they may sell earthly things. Thus Simon wished to buy the Spirit, that he might sell Him: for he was one of those who sell doves. (The Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove.) The dove however is not sold, but is given of free grace; for it is called grace.

BEDE; They then are the sellers of doves, who, after receiving the free grace of the Holy Spirit, do not dispense it freely , as they are commanded, but at a price: who confer the laying on of hands, by which the Holy Spirit is received, if not for money, at least for the sake of getting favor with the people, who bestow Holy Orders not according to merit, but favor.

AUG. By the oxen may be understood the Apostles and Prophets, who have dispensed to us the holy Scriptures. Those who by these very Scriptures deceive the people, from whom they seek honor, sell the oxen; and they sell the sheep too, i.e. the people themselves; and to whom do they sell them, but to the devil? For that which is cut off from the one Church, who takes away, except the roaring lion, who goes about every where, and seeks whom he may devour?

BEDE; Or, the sheep are works of purity and piety, and they sell the sheep, who do works of piety to gain the praise of men. They exchange money in the temple, who, in the Church, openly devote themselves to secular business. And besides those who seek for money, or praise, or honor from Holy Orders, those too make the Lord's house a house of merchandise, who do not employ the rank, or spiritual grace, which they have received in the Church at the Lord's hands, with singleness of mind, but with an eye to human recompense.

AUG. Our Lord intended a meaning to be seen in His making a scourge of small cords, and then scourging those who were carrying on the merchandise in the temple. Every one by his sins twists for himself a cord, in that he goes on adding sin to sin. So then when men suffer for their iniquities, let them be sure that it is the Lord making a scourge of small cords, and admonishing them to change their lives: which if they fail to do, they will hear at the last, Bind him hand and foot.

BEDE; With a scourge then made of small cords, He cast them out of the temple; for from the part and lot of the saints are cast out all, who, thrown externally among the Saints, do good works hypocritically, or bad openly. The sheep and the oxen too He cast out, to show that the life and the doctrine of such were alike reprobate. And He overthrew the change heaps of the money-changers and their tables, as a sign that, at the final condemnation of the wicked, He will take away the form even of those things which they loved. The sale of doves He ordered to be removed out of the temple, because the grace of the Spirit, being freely received, should be freely given.

ORIGEN; By the temple we may understand too the soul wherein the Word of God dwells; in which, before the teaching of Christ, earthly and bestial affections had prevailed. The ox being the tiller of the soil, is the symbol of earthly affections: the sheep, being the most irrational of all animals, of dull ones; the dove is the type of light and volatile thoughts; and money, of earthly good things; which money Christ cast out by the Word of His doctrine, that His Father's house might be no longer a market.

18. Then answered the Jews and said to him, What sign show you to us, seeing that you do these things?
19. Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
20. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will you rear it up in three days?
21. But he spoke of the temple of his body.
22. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this to them: and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

THEOPHYL. The Jews seeing Jesus thus acting with power, and having heard Him say, Make not My Father's house a house of merchandise, ask of Him a sign; Then answered the Jews and said to Him, What sign show You to us, seeing that You do these things?

CHRYS. But were signs necessary for His putting a stop to evil practices? Was not the having such zeal for the house of God, the greatest sign of His virtue? They did not however remember the prophecy, but asked for a sign; at once irritated at the loss of their base gains, and wishing to prevent Him from going further. For this dilemma, they thought, would oblige Him either to work miracles, or give up His present course.

But He refuses to give them the sign, as He did on a like occasion, when He answers, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet; only the answer is more open there than here. He however who even anticipated men's wishes, and gave signs when He was not asked, would not have rejected here a positive request, had He not seen a crafty design in it. As it was, Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

BEDE; For inasmuch as they sought a sign from our Lord of His right to eject the customary merchandise from the temple, He replied, that that temple signified the temple of His Body, in which was no spot of sin; as if He said, As by My power I purify your inanimate temple from your merchandise and wickedness; so the temple of My Body, of which that is the figure, destroyed by your hands, on the third day I will raise again.

THEOPHYL. He does not however provoke them to commit murder, by saying, Destroy; but only shows that their intentions were not hidden from Him. Let the Arians observe how our Lord, as the destroyer of death, says, I will raise it up; that is to say, by My own power.

AUG. The Father also raised Him up again; to Whom He says, Raise You me up, and I shall reward them. But what did the Father do without the Word? As then the Father raised Him up, so did the Son also: even as He said below, I and My Father are one.

CHRYS. But why does He give them the sign of His resurrection? Because this was the greatest proof that He was not a mere man; showing, as it did, that He could triumph over death, and in a moment overthrow its long tyranny.

ORIGEN. Both those, i.e. both the Body of Jesus and the temple, seem to me to be a type of the Church, which with lively stones is built up into a spiritual house, into an holy priesthood; according to St. Paul, You are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And though the structure of stones seem to be broken up, and all the bones of Christ scattered by adversities and tribulations, yet shall the temple be restored, and raised up again in three days, and established in the new heaven and the new earth. For as that sensible body of Christ was crucified and buried, and afterward rose again; so the whole body of Christ's saints was crucified with Christ, (each glorying in that cross, by which He Himself too was crucified to the world,) and, after being buried with Christ, has also risen with Him, walking in newness of life. Yet have we not risen yet in the power of the blessed resurrection, which is still going on, and is yet to be completed. Whence it is not said, On the third day I will build it up, but, in three days; for the erection is being in process throughout the whole of the three days.

THEOPHYL. The Jews, supposing that He spoke of the material temple, scoffed: Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will You rear it up in three days?

ALCUIN. Note, that they allude here not to the first temple under Solomon, which was finished in seven years, but to the one rebuilt under Zorobabel. This was forty-six years building, in consequence of the hindrance raised by the enemies of the work.

ORIGEN. Or some will reckon perhaps the forty and six years from the time that David consulted Nathan the Prophet on the building of the temple. David from that time was busy in collecting materials. But perhaps the number forty may with reference to the four corners of the temple allude to the four elements of the world, and the number six, to the creation of man on the sixth day.

AUG. Or it may be that this number fits in with the perfection of the Lord's Body. For six times forty-six are two hundred and seventy-six days, which make up nine months and six days, the time that our Lord's Body was forming in the womb; as we know by authoritative traditions handed down from our fathers, and preserved by the Church. He was, according to general belief, conceived on the eighth of the Kalends of April, the one which He suffered, and born on the eighth of the Kalends of January. The intervening time contains two hundred and seventy-six days, i.e. six multiplied by forty.

AUG. The process of human conception is said to be this. The first six days produce a substance like milk, which in the following nine is converted into blood; in twelve more is consolidated, in eighteen more is formed into a perfect set of limbs, the growth and enlargement of which fills up the rest of the time till the birth. For six, and nine, and twelve, and eighteen, added together are forty-five, and with the addition of one (which stands for the summing up, all these numbers being collected into one) forty-six. This multiplied by the number six, which stands at the head of this calculation, makes two hundred and seventy-six, i.e. nine months a and six days. It is no unmeaning information then that the temple was forty and six years building; for the temple prefigured His Body, and as many years as the temple was in building, so many days was the Lord's Body in forming.

AUG. Or thus, if you take the four Greek words, anatole, the east; dysis, the west; arctos, the north; and mesembria, the south; the first letters of these words make Adam. And our Lord says that He will gather together His saints from the four winds, when He comes to judgment. Now these letters of the word Adam, make up, according to Greek figuring, the number of the years during which the temple was building. For in Adam we have alpha, one; delta, four; alpha again, one; and forty; making up together forty-six. The temple then signifies the body derived from Adam; which body our Lord did not take in its sinful state, but renewed it, in that after the Jews had destroyed it, He raised it again the third day. The Jews however, being carnal, understood carnally; He spoke spiritually. He tells us, by the Evangelist, what temple He means; But He spoke of the temple of His Body.

THEOPHYL. From this Apollinarius draws an heretical inference: and attempts to show that Christ's flesh was inanimate, because the temple was inanimate. In this way you will prove the flesh of Christ to be wood and stone, because the temple is composed of these materials. Now if you refuse to allow what is said, Now is My soul troubled; and, I have power to lay it (My life) down, to be said of the rational soul, still how will you interpret, Into Your hands, O Lord, I commend My spirit? you cannot understand this of an irrational soul: or again, the passage, You shall not leave My soul in hell.

ORIGEN. Our Lord's Body is called the temple, because as the temple contained the glory of God dwelling therein, so the Body of Christ, which represents the Church, contains the Only-Begotten, Who is the image and glory of God.

CHRYS. Two things there were in the mean time very far removed from the comprehension of the disciples: one, the resurrection of our Lord's Body: the other, and the greater mystery, that it was God who dwelt in that Body: as our Lord declares by saying, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

And thus it follows, When therefore He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them: and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

ALCUIN. For before the resurrection they did not understand the Scriptures, because they had not yet received the Holy Ghost, Who was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. But on the day of the resurrection our Lord appeared and opened their meaning to His disciples; that they might understand what was said of Him in the Law and the Prophets. And then they believed the prediction of the Prophets that Christ would rise the third day, and the word which Jesus had spoken to them: Destroy this temple, &c.

ORIGEN. But (in the mystical interpretation) we shall attain to the full measure of faith, at the great resurrection of the whole body of Jesus, i.e. His Church; inasmuch as the faith which is from sight, is very different from that which sees as through a glass darkly.

Catena Aurea John 2
26 posted on 11/09/2012 5:50:14 PM PST by annalex (fear them not)
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To: annalex


Christ Chasing the Moneylenders from the Temple

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione

1645-55
Oil on canvas, 100 x 124 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

27 posted on 11/09/2012 5:51:00 PM PST by annalex (fear them not)
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To: All
Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for: November 09, 2012
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: O God, who from living and chosen stones prepare an eternal dwelling for your majesty, increase in your Church the spirit of grace you have bestowed, so that by new growth your faithful people may build up the heavenly Jerusalem. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Ordinary Time: November 9th

Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica

Old Calendar: Dedication of the Archbasilica of Our Holy Savior; St. Theodore, martyr

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. The Basilica of St. John Lateran is the cathedral of Rome. This is not St. Peter's, but it is the Pope's cathedral. Also called the Church of Holy Savior or the Church of St. John Baptist, it was the baptism church of ancient Rome. It was built in the time of Constantine and was consecrated by Pope Sylvester in 324. This feast became a universal celebration in honor of the basilica called "the mother and mistress of all churches of Rome and the world" (omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput) as a sign of love for and union with the See of Peter.

According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the commemoration of St. Theodore, a Christian soldier and martyr of Asia Minor.


The Temple of Stones is a Symbol of the Living Church
Today the liturgy celebrates the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, called “mother and head of all the churches of the city and the world.” In fact, this basilica was the first to be built after Emperor Constantine’s edict, in 313, granted Christians freedom to practice their religion.

The emperor himself gave Pope Miltiades the ancient palace of the Laterani family, and the basilica, the baptistery, and the patriarchate, that is, the Bishop of Rome’s residence — where the Popes lived until the Avignon period — were all built there. The basilica’s dedication was celebrated by Pope Sylvester around 324 and was named Most Holy Savior; only after the 6th century were the names of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist added, and now is typically denominated by these latter.

Initially the observance of this feast was confined to the city of Rome; then, beginning in 1565, it was extended to all the Churches of the Roman rite. The honoring of this sacred edifice was a way of expressing love and veneration for the Roman Church, which, as St. Ignatius of Antioch says, “presides in charity” over the whole Catholic communion (Letter to the Romans, 1:1).

On this solemnity the Word of God recalls an essential truth: the temple of stones is a symbol of the living Church, the Christian community, which in their letters the Apostles Peter and Paul already understood as a “spiritual edifice,” built by God with “living stones,” namely, Christians themselves, upon the one foundation of Jesus Christ, who is called the “cornerstone” (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17; 1 Peter 2:4-8; Ephesians 2:20-22). “Brothers, you are God’s building,” St. Paul wrote, and added: “holy is God’s temple, which you are” (1 Corinthians 3:9c, 17).

The beauty and harmony of the churches, destined to give praise to God, also draws us human beings, limited and sinful, to convert to form a “cosmos,” a well-ordered structure, in intimate communion with Jesus, who is the true Saint of saints. This happens in a culminating way in the Eucharistic liturgy, in which the “ecclesia,” that is, the community of the baptized, come together in a unified way to listen to the Word of God and nourish themselves with the Body and Blood of Christ. From these two tables the Church of living stones is built up in truth and charity and is internally formed by the Holy Spirit transforming herself into what she receives, conforming herself more and more to the Lord Jesus Christ. She herself, if she lives in sincere and fraternal unity, in this way becomes the spiritual sacrifice pleasing to God.

Dear friends, today’s feast celebrates a mystery that is always relevant: God’s desire to build a spiritual temple in the world, a community that worships him in spirit and truth (cf. John 4:23-24). But this observance also reminds us of the importance of the material buildings in which the community gathers to celebrate the praises of God. Every community therefore has the duty to take special care of its own sacred buildings, which are a precious religious and historical patrimony. For this we call upon the intercession of Mary Most Holy, that she help us to become, like her, the “house of God,” living temple of his love.

— Benedict XVI, Angelus Address, November 9, 2008

Things to Do:


St. Theodore
St. Theodore was a Christian soldier who set on fire the temple of the mother-goddess Cybele at Amasea (303 A.D.). The prefect of the legion promised mercy if he repented his act and renounced the Christian faith. Theodore persevered bravely; accordingly he was cast into prison and his flesh ripped by iron hooks so that his ribs were exposed. In the midst of indescribable torture he sang joyfully, "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will ever be in my mouth" (Ps. 33).

Praying and singing the glories of Christ, he was burned alive on November 9. A panegyric by St. Gregory of Nyssa on his virtues is extant. Theodore's head has been venerated at Cajeta since the Middle Ages. In ancient times, particularly among the Greeks, this soldier-martyr was honored as patron of armies. During the seventh century a church was dedicated to him in Rome, and his picture appears upon the apse mosaic in the church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Symbols: Post and iron hooks; white horse; temple of Cybele in flames; crown of thorns; cross; Roman armour; sword.

Things to Do:


28 posted on 11/09/2012 6:04:53 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: All
The Word Among Us

Meditation: Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12

The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

“Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.” (Ezekiel 47:12)

Water flowing out from beneath a threshold is not usually a good sign. Either your house has flooded, or a pipe has burst. But what if that water were the river of life?

Today, we celebrate the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the pope’s basilica in Rome. At this church, the pope fulfills the pastoral role of bishop for all of the Catholics in Rome. It is from this basilica that he offers Mass and provides spiritual direction for his flock. It is also as bishop of Rome that he exercises his role as leader of all his brother bish­ops in the Church—his role as pope. So today’s celebration is a call to reflect on the local Church and the global Church that, as St. Ambrose says, is made beautiful in human hearts.

And what is that Church? It is all of us, not just its leaders. Together we form the living temple of God’s presence, and from all of us flows the river of life that Ezekiel describes in today’s first reading.

But what does the river actually look like? Take a minute and think about the massive difference that God has made in this world because of the Church—because of us. For more than twenty centuries, believ­ers have poured themselves out to meet the physical and spiritual needs of their neighbors. From local parish groups to international orga­nizations, they have fed the hungry, provided medical care to the sick, and offered comfort to the lonely. Through their prayer and celebration of the sacraments, they have brought millions of people to conversion. Nothing short of miracles have taken place because believers have reached out in the grace of God!

You are part of this Church. When you pray for a friend on the drive to work, the river is flowing. When you make even a small donation to the poor box, you are bringing life. When you offer forgiveness, you are bringing healing and peace. Your life matters! Your witness is vital!

So how will you let the river of life flow through you today?

“Lord, I want to bring spiritual food to the hungry and healing to the wounded. Let your river flow fast and strong from my heart.”

Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9 1; Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17; John 2:13-22


29 posted on 11/09/2012 6:20:49 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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Marriage = One Man and One Woman
Til' Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for November 9, 2012:

(Reader’s Tip) Embrace the Cross. Marriage, like any vocation, is a path to holiness, with its sorrows as well as joys.


30 posted on 11/09/2012 6:32:20 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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Vultus Christi

O mon Dieu, Trinité que j'adore . . .

| 

Elisabeth_jeune_professe_mars_1903.jpg

Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity
+ 9 November 1906

Blessed Elizabeth's Elevation to the Most Holy Trinity, written by the young Carmelite on 21 November 1904, has touched thousands of souls. For many it is has opened the door of an interior life of adoration and of love.

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O my God, Trinity whom I adore; help me to forget myself entirely that I may be established in You as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing trouble my peace or make me leave You, O my Unchanging One, but may each minute carry me further into the depths of Your mystery. Give peace to my soul; make it Your heaven, Your beloved dwelling and Your resting place. May I never leave You there alone but be wholly present, my faith wholly vigilant, wholly adoring, and wholly surrendered to Your creative Action.
O my beloved Christ, crucified by love, I wish to be a bride for Your Heart; I wish to cover You with glory; I wish to love You...even unto death! But I feel my weakness, and I ask You to "clothe me with Yourself," to identify my soul with all the movements of Your Soul, to overwhelm me, to possess me, to substitute yourself for me that my life may be but a radiance of Your Life. Come into me as Adorer, as Restorer, as Savior.
O Eternal Word, Word of my God, I want to spend my life in listening to You, to become wholly teachable that I may learn all from You. Then, through all nights, all voids, all helplessness, I want to gaze on You always and remain in Your great light. O my beloved Star, so fascinate me that I may not withdraw from Your radiance.
O consuming Fire, Spirit of Love, "come upon me," and create in my soul a kind of incarnation of the Word: that I may be another humanity for Him in which He can renew His whole Mystery.
And You, O Father, bend lovingly over Your poor little creature; "cover her with Your shadow," seeing in her only the "Beloved in whom You are well pleased."
O my Three, my All, my Beatitude, infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I lose myself, I surrender myself to You as Your prey. Bury Yourself in me that I may bury myself in You until I depart to contemplate in Your light the abyss of Your greatness.

31 posted on 11/09/2012 6:35:04 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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Vultus Christi

Haec est domus Domini

 on November 8, 2012 8:11 PM |
1109interior.jpg

The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Cross the threshold of the Lateran Basilica, enter the nave, stand in the midst of it and, with eyes wide open to things visible, contemplate the invisible: the mystery of the Church, Bride of Christ and Mother of His faithful. To do this, one need not take oneself off to Rome. It is enough, and more than enough, to enter into the wealth of antiphons, responsories, readings, hymns, and prayers that make up the splendour of today's liturgy.

God is in His Holy Place

The liturgy summons us to make a pilgrimage of the heart. It is full of mysterious archetypes: thresholds and doors, stones and ladders, pillars and gates, fires and storms, trumpet blasts and mountains, water and blood. All of these resonate to the great central affirmation of the liturgy of the Dedication of a Church: "God is in his holy place" (Ps 67:6).

When we cross the threshold of a dedicated church, we pass into a mystic enclosure containing the uncontainable. We pass over into the space and time of God: a space filled by Him whom the heavens themselves cannot encompass, a time transcending the mean measurements of clocks and calendars.

House of God and Gate of Heaven

Our God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of David and of Solomon, the God of Jesus Christ is not the distant God of a remote "there and then"; He is the God of "here and now." This is the wondrous realization that, dawning upon Jacob, caused him to cry out, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven" (Gen 28:17).

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The Temple of His Body

Today the Church professes the abiding and objective presence of God in the new and indestructible Temple, which is the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord challenges his critics, saying: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up"; Saint John, ever the theologian, takes great care to add for our sakes, "But he spoke of the temple of his body" (Jn 2:19-21).

The Body of Christ is our Temple. To be in the Temple is to be in Christ. There we are certain of finding the Father; there we are certain of being overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. There are we surrounded by "innumerable angels in festal gathering" and by "the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven" (Heb 12:22-23). To dwell in the Temple is to share in the mystery of Our Lord's priesthood, a priesthood which, like the Temple of his risen and ascended Body, endures forever. Baptized into Christ, we have crossed the threshold of the Temple. Even more, we are that Temple.

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Divine Hospitality

The Temple of Christ's Body is not the stage of great spectacle. It is the home of the little and of the poor. There, beggar and priest, harlot and levite, mingle and touch, held in the embrace of the Divine Hospitality. The sound that fills the living Temple is the immense symphony of the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind (Lk 14:13), all clothed in their wedding garments -- garments royal and priestly -- woven by the Holy Spirit to adorn the Body of Christ in the presence of the Father. Here, the sacred is familiar, and the familiar, sacred. "Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at thy altars, O Lord of hosts" (Ps 84:3-4).

The Gate of Heaven Upon Earth

Listen to Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914), a son of the Archbishop of Canterbury and celebrated convert to Catholic Church. He describes the Church I love: the Church he came to love:

Her arms are as open to those who would serve God in silence and seclusion, as to those who dance before him with all their might. . . . There is nothing to fear for those who stand where we stand; there are no precipices to be climbed any more and no torrents to be crossed; God has made all easy for those He has admitted through the Gate of Heaven that he has built upon the earth; the very River of Death itself is no more than a dwindled stream, bridged and protected on every side; the shadow of death is little more than twilight for those who look on it in the light of the Lamb.

32 posted on 11/09/2012 6:36:37 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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Regnum Christi

The Indestructible Temple
| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY
Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica



Father Steven Reilly, LC 

 

John 2: 13-22

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father´s house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe that you are here with me, and I hope in your boundless mercy and love. Thank you for watching over me and keeping me in your friendship. Thank you for the precious gift of our Mother, the Church.

Petition: Lord, increase my zeal!

1. The Indestructible Temple: Today we celebrate the dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica, known as the “mother and head of all the churches.” Going to Rome and visiting this wonderful church, now some seventeen centuries old, one gets a sense of the durability of Catholicism. The Catholic Church has been around for a long time, and it will be around for a lot longer — until judgment day, to be exact. No matter how hard the world has tried, it hasn’t been able to destroy the temple of the Church. This should give us a deep confidence that the Lord is with us as we journey through history.

2. Purification: Being indestructible doesn’t mean, however, that the Catholic Church does not need constant purification. When our Lord arrived to the temple in Jerusalem, he found many things that marred the spirit of prayer and devotion that was to characterize that sacred building. His vigorous reaction serves to underline the high vocation of holiness that God had given to the Chosen People. We Catholics have inherited that call; yet all too often, the ways of the world creep into our souls. Each one of us needs to submit to the Lord’s purification. He will challenge us in our conscience, and sometimes that will sting like the whip of cords. But if we are sincere in our desires, we accept this with humility, aware that our souls must be living temples of God’s presence.

3. Consuming Zeal: When the apostles contemplated our Lord’s action in the temple, “zeal” was the word that summed it all up. Jesus is zealous because he doesn’t accept the status quo of entrenched mediocrity. The day he arrives it is no longer business as usual: His Father’s house WILL be respected. Too often we let the barnacles of laziness and the accretions of apathy weigh down and extinguish our zeal. Every day we must pray that the Lord will once again “enkindle in our hearts the fire of his love.” Our zeal in living the faith is part of the way God works to make this temple of his Church indestructible. Don’t we want to cooperate with his love, so that the “gates of hell will not prevail?”

Conversation with Christ: Lord, I love your Church. I thank you for the priceless gift of my Catholic faith. Protect the Church from all her enemies and help me to be an effective apostle filled with authentic zeal.

Resolution: I will offer myself to collaborate in a parish ministry or other Catholic apostolate out of love for the Church.


33 posted on 11/09/2012 7:23:27 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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Reverence in God’s House

 

by Food For Thought on November 9, 2012 ·

Reading 1 Ez 47:1-2, 8-9, 12

Responsorial Psalm Ps 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9

Reading 2 1 Cor 3:9c-11, 16-17

Gospel Jn 2:13-22

Why do we have a special celebration of the dedication of a basilica? St. John Lateran is the oldest and ranks first among the four great “patriarchal” basilicas of Rome. The palace of the family of the Laterani in ancient times occupied the site.

Through the years, the palace came eventually into the hands of Constantine, the first Christian emperor. Constantine must have given it to the Church, and a council against the Donatists was held there as early as 313. From that time onwards it was always the center of Christian life within the city, the residence of popes and the cathedral of Rome.

In the Gospel reading, we find a very unusual Jesus. The Gospel usually describes Jesus as a gentle, loving, compassionate, and forgiving person. All of a sudden we see his violent angry outburst in the Gospel reading today. What triggers this violent outburst of anger?

The scripture scholars, William Barclay explains that the Passover was the greatest of all Jewish feasts. And the law prescribed that all adult male Jew who lived within fifteen miles of Jerusalem are bound to attend it. And at the time of Jesus, the Jews were scattered all over the world, but they never forget their ancestral faith and their ancestral land. And it was the dream and aspiration of every Jew, no matter where they live, to celebrate at least one Passover in Jerusalem. For this reason, thousands, perhaps millions of pilgrims flock to Jerusalem for the Passover.

There was a Temple tax that every Jew over nineteen years of age must pay. The tax was equivalent to two days’ wages. For all normal purposes in Palestine, all kinds of currency were valid. But the Temple tax had to be paid either in Galilean shekels or in the shekels of the sanctuary. These were Jewish coins, and so could be used as a gift to the Temple. The other currencies were foreign and therefore unclean.

Pilgrims arrived from all over the world with all kinds of coins. So in the Temple courts there sat the moneychangers. If their trade had been honest and just, they would have been fulfilling an honest and necessary service. But they manipulated and charged excessive exchange
rates, taking advantage and victimizing the pilgrims. It was a rampant and shameless social injustice – and what was worse, it was being done in the name of religion, in the name of serving God

Aside from the moneychangers there were also the sellers of oxen, sheep and doves. Frequently a visit to the Temple meant a sacrifice. Many a pilgrim would wish to make a thanksgiving offering for a favorable journey to the Holy City; and most acts and events in life had their appropriate sacrifice. It might therefore seem to be natural and helpful thing that the animals for the sacrifice could be bought in the Temple court. It might well have been so. But the law was that any animal offered in sacrifice must be perfect and unblemished. The Temple authorities had appointed inspectors to examine the animals, which were to be offered. And for this there was a fee for inspection.

If a worshipper bought an animal outside the Temple, it would most likely be rejected after examination. Again that might not have mattered much, but a pair of doves, for example, inside the Temple court could cost about 200 times more than those sold outside. Here again a open extortion at the expense of poor and humble pilgrims, who were practically blackmailed into buying their victims from the Temple booths if they wished to sacrifice at all – once more a glaring social injustice aggravated by the fact that it was perpetrated in the name of pure religion.

It was the exploitation of the pilgrims by conscienceless men connected with people in authority in the Temple that moved Jesus to such anger and violence. Because Jesus loved God, as he loved God’s children, and it was impossible for him to stand passively by while the worshippers of Jerusalem were being victimized that way.

But there was an even deeper reason behind the cleansing of the Temple. Matthew’s account says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers.” (Matt. 21:13). Mark puts it, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. But you have made it a den of robbers.” (Mark 11:17). Luke has it, “My house shall be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers” (Luke 19:46). John has it: “Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade” (John 2:16).

Jesus acted as he did because God’s house was being desecrated. In the Temple there was worship without reverence. Reverence is an instinctive thing. Worship without reverence is a terrible thing. It may be worship, which is formalized and pushed through in any way; the most dignified prayers on earth can be read like a passage from an auctioneer’s catalogue. It may be worship, which does not realize the holiness of God. Jesus acted to show that no sacrifice of any animal could ever put a man right with God.

The Temple authorities and the Jewish traders were making the Court of the Gentiles into noisy market place, where no man could pray. The noise from the sheep and oxen, the cooing of the doves, the shouts of vendors, the jingle of coins from the vendors – all these combined to
make the Court of the Gentiles a place where no man could pray and worship. The conduct of the Temple court shut out the Gentiles from seeking the presence of God. It may be this that was uppermost in the mind of Jesus. Jesus was moved to the depth of his heart, because devout men were being shut out from the presence of God.

Is there in our Church life today – a snobbishness, superiority complex, an exclusiveness, a coldness, a lack of welcome, a tendency to make the congregation into a closed club, an arrogance, a rigidity- which keeps the searching stranger out? Let us remember the wrath of Jesus against those who made it difficult and even impossible for the searching stranger to make contact with God.


34 posted on 11/09/2012 7:44:25 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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Zeal for His House: The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Zeal For His House: The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.

by Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D. on November 9, 2012 · 

Funny thing.  Jesus, who cared much for the poor, did not have this attitude.  As an adolescent he yearned to spend time in Herod’s sumptuous Temple(Luke 2).   As an adult, he defended its integrity against the money changers (John 2).  Francis of Assisi, who gave away all his possessions, begged for money to buy materials to restore ruined churches which he rebuilt with his own hands.

Why this high regard for church buildings?  Ezekiel 47 gives us one important reason.  Because the liturgical worship that goes on inside, most especially the Eucharist, is the “source and summit” of our entire Christian life.

The world is a dusty, tiring place that often beats us down.  The Church building is a haven, a quiet refuge, a place to encounter God.  Here we drink deeply of the life-giving waters of word and sacrament that revive our drooping spirits (Psalm 23).  The grace that flows from the altar bears us back into the world, changed, and able to change others, bringing healing and bearing fruit.

Paul, in I Corinthians 3, gives us another reason to honor churches.  George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, concluded from this passage that if we Christians are the Church, we should call our places of worship “steeple-houses”.  To call buildings “churches” obscures the fact that we are the Church.

The Judeo-Christian Tradition sees it differently.  The church building is a mirror that, held up before us, reminds us of who we are.  The world tells us that we are consumers, employees and voters, and flashes a constant stream of icons at us every day to remind us of this. The Church building is an icon that reminds us of our deepest identity.  As we gather for Sunday worship, we who were scattered by diverse loyalties, professions, and life-styles, are now united as the Body of Christ and dwelling place of the Spirit.

How does a person enter the Church?  Through the cleansing waters of baptism.  Maybe that’s why there are holy water fonts at the doors of most Catholic churches.  Maybe those statues of saints are there to remind us that we are “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the family of God” (Ephesians 2:19f).

image credit: Italytripsite.com

So what about all the expensive treasures of architecture, painting, sculpture, and stained glass?  Sell them all and use the proceeds to buy food for the poor?  When that food had been consumed, what then would the poor have?

In Texas, we have a homestead law that seeks to guarantee that no matter what financial misfortunes might befall people, they will not lose their homes.  The loss of one’s home is a loss of one’s dignity.  Our churches, from the local chapel to St. Peter’s Basilica, belong not to the hierarchy, but to the whole family.  They have been given to us by the hard work and contributions of our forebears to remind us of our dignity as sons and daughters of the living God.

The Lateran Basilica, whose dedication we celebrate every November, was donated to the Church by Constantine soon after he legalized Christianity in 313 AD.  Ever since it has served as the official cathedral of the Pope, the mother church of all Christendom, the cathedral of the world.

It is there that the most powerful pope of the middle ages, Innocent III, had a dream of a magnificent church breaking apart only to be shored up by a poor man in a beggar’s robe.  Soon afterwards, a group of beggars from Assisi arrived, led by a man named Francis, asking for his approval for their lifestyle and work.  Prepared by his dream, he recognized the hand of God, and encouraged a movement that renewed the Church.

As we meditate on this feast, let us allow zeal for his house to consume us as it did Jesus and Francis, that we may embrace the task of purification, renewal and rebuilding given us by the Council that met in another great Roman basilica some forty years ago.


35 posted on 11/09/2012 7:47:28 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body


 

<< Friday, November 9, 2012 >> Dedication of the
Lateran Basilica in Rome

 
Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12
1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17

View Readings
Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9
John 2:13-22

 

CHURCH BUILDING

 
"Actually He was talking about the temple of His body." —John 2:21
 

Today the Church commemorates the dedication of the Lateran basilica in Rome in the fourth century. This church building has been called the mother of all the churches. Today the Church teaches us that we belong not only to our parish Church, but also to the universal Church, the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27).

This feast reminds us that, as members of the Church, we belong to a particular diocese, but are also connected to the universal Church through her pope and her bishops. We celebrate the dedication of the Lateran basilica as an "expression of the variety and universality of the People of God; and of the unity of the flock of Christ, in so far as it is assembled under one head," that is, the pope (Catechism, 885). The pope, bishops, and each of us "are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28).

When you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and receive Baptism, you become a member of His mystical Body. You become a dwelling place for Jesus, a temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells (1 Cor 3:16). Now that you're in His body, Jesus wants to talk about the temple of your body (Jn 2:21). Let Jesus be your Lord and cleanse you (Jn 2:14ff). Let Him do whatever He wishes in your life to make You a strong, living stone to build and strengthen His universal Church (1 Pt 2:4-5; 1 Cor 3:9ff).

 
Prayer: Jesus, let zeal for Your house consume me (Jn 2:17). Give me a great love for Your Church.
Promise: "God is our Refuge and our Strength, an ever-present Help in distress." —Ps 46:2
Praise: "How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!" (Ps 84:2)

36 posted on 11/09/2012 7:58:35 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: All

37 posted on 11/09/2012 8:00:49 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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