Parish Bulletins

This Week in the Bulletin:

The Dignity of the Church
The Passover for the Jews was an important social and religious annual event. The temple court used to be very crowded and looked like a market place. Business was brisk in Jerusalem with the Passover lasting for one week. Many Jews went to the Holy City to fulfill their obligations and celebrate their religious traditions. Different kinds of animals were used for the holocausts and sacrifices. The pagan coins, brought from the diaspora by Jewish and Gentile pilgrims, had to be exchanged for the Jewish shekel, the only currency acceptable for temple offering and tax. The trade was legitimised by the temple authorities.
Jesus did not appreciate this. He reacts to it violently and cleanses the temple, driving the merchants out and overturning their tables, as a sign of purification of the temple where God dwells. Jesus is not advocating violence or destruction. He questions the ritualistic worship in which the hearts of the people are far away from God and the wanton disrespect of a holy place. Hence the disciples apply these words of Scripture “Zeal for your house will consume me,” (Ps 69:10) to Jesus.
Today we celebrate the dedication of the Lateran Basilica. When we think about the Church in Rome we have an image of St Peter’s in the Vatican. But however important and imposing St Peter’s is, it gives way to a smaller building in Rome, a few kilometres outside the Vatican, the Lateran Basilica. The church itself is the oldest in Rome and dates from the year 324. It was the cathedral for each Bishop of Rome, who was of course, the pope. For centuries the popes lived in the Lateran Palace next door. Although it’s had its share of damage and reconstruction over the centuries, the Lateran Basilica is still, if we like to think of it this way, the pope’s parish church and it’s honoured as the Mother Church of all the churches in the world.
While of course we must look after our church buildings, it does not matter whether we’re in a sumptuous basilica or in a grass hut with rain dripping onto the simple table that serves as an altar. It is the same Christ our Saviour who offers himself with us to the Father and gives us back his own life in Communion.
God’s Word Fr Robert Das SJ

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