The Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, officially known as the Major Papal, Patriarchal and Roman Archbasilica, Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in Lateran, Mother and Head of All Churches in Rome and in the World, or commonly known as, the Lateran Basilica or Saint John Lateran, is the Catholic cathedral of the Diocese of Rome and serves as the seat of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. In one of our (my wife & I) previous visits to Rome, we had visited the four major Basilicas, one of which is Saint John Lateran. We love visiting these magnificently, wonderful, ancient structures that reflect in their beauty the magnificent and wonderful truth and goodness of our faith. If you have had the chance to be there in person, they are sights to behold. There is not one stone out of place. Not one painting, or statue that decries its beauty. It is as to enter the center of a well conducted orchestra and listen to the multitude of instruments & voices harmonize into a whole.
Experience of Peace
There is something about being in the physical structure of a Church that brings with it a sense of peace. Why is that? Why do my senses start to immediately relax and calm down the minute I cross the threshold of a Church? My wife and I have made it something of a habit to take these long evening walks to our nearby Parish, spend a few minutes there, and return home. There is something about entering and sitting in the presence of God that stills the mind, makes every care in the world seem distant, far away, on the outside. We have also observed from some of our pilgrimage visits that this experience of peace is just as unique and special, whether it is a simple Chapel carved into a hillside or a Major Basilica in Rome. None of these Churches have ever failed to revitalize and to re-energize. Isn’t it just a building? A structure made of stone and brick. What secret mystery makes these structures special?
I must confess that I have not been reading Scripture lately as much as I used to. Yes, there are the daily mass readings or the Sunday readings. When I used to do this more often in the past, I recall having that same sense of peace as when I walk into a Church. This sense of harmony among the many books in the Bible is even stronger, the more you dwell on it.
Furthermore, the more time I spend on Scripture the more I begin to hear the clarity of its distinct notes while also hearing the harmony of the whole. But then it is different too. This is not some abstract painting on a distant wall. It is more like a four-dimensional work of art in which I am a part, my life over my lifetime has been colored into it, a painting that becomes clearer and more beautiful right in front of my senses, the more I dwell on it. Becoming more personal and intimate the more I meditate upon it.
Becoming Part
When I am in the physical structure of a Church, I become one with its history, in the present. I become a part of what it related to in time and space, I am now part of the smell, the sights, the sounds, the mystery, the faith, the love, the hopes of many that’ve festooned the place down through the ages. The older the structure, the more connected I feel to all that has passed and filled its halls, I become as one with them, past, present, and future. The Church Militant connected to the Church Suffering, to the Church Triumphant. This is the ongoing priceless masterpiece that God is painting, and though I feel unworthy, I get the sense that He feels I ought to be in it.
Not Just Stone and Masonry
These wonderful, magnificent, physical structures, are not just built of stone and masonry. I feel they are just as much the Church as the Church; the body of Christ is. This is why Jesus drove those money changers out of Temple. Zeal for His house consumed Him because the physical temple was his home, his Father’s home. How could he then stand for anything evil in his home?
But is not it ironical that it is into that very same home that he invites each sinner. What then is the difference? The difference is the penitence on the road to redemption. He has laid the perfect foundation (1 Cor 3:9-11). Yet he builds his Church out of imperfect stones. Understanding, I see it now. I am not in my Church because I am a perfect stone. I am there precisely because I am not. But I see the foundation that he laid, I see the structure he has built thus far, the Church Triumphant, out of similar imperfect stones. And that structure stands, no stone out of place, together they harmonize, they become a wonderfully magnificent perfect living whole. That gives me hope. It is that hope that I sense when I cross the threshold of these Churches and Chapels. It is that hope that gives me that sense of calm. That is the secret. Amen.
[Readings: Ez 47:1-2, 8-9, 12; 1 Cor 3:9c-11, 16-17; Jn 2:13-22]
