EZ 47: 1, 2, 8, 9, 12; 1 Cor. 3: 9c-11, 16-17; Jn. 2: 13-22

The Cathedral of the Most Holy Savior and of the Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in the Lateran, most often simply called Saint John Lateran stands for the unity of the church where bricks and mortar, body and blood, and soul and spirit meet for the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.  The full name clearly indicates this is not a celebration of a building but of the building up of the kingdom of God.  St. John Lateran is the “mother” church and the Papal major basilica dedicated to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist.  In St. John the Baptist we have the one who announces the coming of the messiah and in St. John the Evangelist the spread of the gospel but its dedication to the Most Holy Savior is the center of our faith.  As the mother church it then is Cathedral of the Pope as Bishop of Rome.  If we look to the church as the “water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple…for they shall be watered by the flow of the sanctuary”  and we here in St. Francis Xavier in the Diocese of Brownsville are receiving the “trickling” of living water in our sanctuary where we “bear fresh fruit”. 

The fruit we bear is given to us as the body and blood of Jesus to be temples continuing to build up the one body.  Historically it took years to build a temple and many generations would only contribute but a portion of the vision to be completed.  Today we have skyscrapers that go up in a few years while at the same time other construction is demolished in an instant so our appreciation of creating something bigger than ourselves lacks that sense that we are part of a future called to lay our labor of love.  The “holy city, a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God” is already being created and we have a great responsibility to fulfill in our time.  We can envision what it will be like and we can “taste and see” from the living water and enjoy some of the fruit even receive some of the “healing medicine” saved by the healing water from our baptism. 

Jesus is the temple raised up in three days from death and we share in his temple in the Eucharist that feeds our soul and in the Holy Spirit that abides in us to bring life, holiness, renewal, and joy to our lives.  Thus, “there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (Eph. 4:6).  Unity in Christ is God’s plan of salvation.  Unity in Christ is bringing the waters of life to others in our homes and in the many ministries of service we support. 

Today, I was at a conference and it provided a lunch with a speaker.  The speaker was a pastor from a protestant faith in support of churches getting involved to support children in foster care.  When he started this ministry he understood not all families could accept a child for foster care but all families could contribute in support of those families who did from his congregation.  As he goes around telling his story to other pastors and church leaders he asks this question.  Do you have a music ministry?  Do you have a men’s group and a women’s group ministry?  They say “yes”.   Then he asks them where in the bible does it say you need to have those ministries?  He then asks the key question, “Do you have an orphan ministry?”  While children in foster care are not orphans literally they are in need of a home and love.  He considers his “orphan” ministry to be a calling to support the widow, the orphan, and the poor which is in the bible. 

Building up the kingdom of God is remembering our calling to generosity in sharing from our blessings by blessing others in meeting the needs and bringing them into the life of Christ, the life of the church, and the life of the Spirit, then our joy will be complete.