The Mother of All Churches
Today we celebrate the solemn feast of the dedication of the Basilica of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist in Lateran, otherwise called St. John Lateran Basilica. The land upon which this Basilica is built was given to Emperor Constantine by the Laterani family. When Constantine made Christianity the state religion he built a papal palace on this land and gave it to the Church. So for many years John Lateran served as the Apostolic palace until the captivity of the papacy and relocation of the Papal palace to Avignon. Upon the return of the Papacy to Rome, they found this palace in ruins and therefore the Pope had to establish a new palace in Vatican just within St. Peter’s Basilica.
Because of this many people think that the head of the Churches or the mother Church is the Basilica of St. Peter but its not. The mother Church is the Basilica of St. John Lateran, which is by default the cathedral of the diocese of Rome whose bishop is the Pope.
The pope is first and foremost a bishop; he is the bishop of Rome. He is the “Primus inter pares” the first among equals and so, being the bishop of Rome makes him the successor of St. Peter who was the first bishop of Rome, and therefore he becomes the universal pastor hence Pope.
So the celebration today brings out two very powerful points:
1. It highlights the unity and universality of the church. The Bishop of Rome becomes the Vicar of Christ and the visible sign of the unity of the church and his cathedral the mother of all the churches. He is also the universal Pastor. According to canon law, the Bishop of Rome has immediate and universal power over the whole church. This means as Parishioners in St. Brendan, we are united to the Pope not through our Archbishop but we are united with him in an immediate and direct way because of the universal power that he exercises over the universal church.
2. The Basilica we celebrate is the first church. The building has gone through all kinds of attack ranging from war to earthquakes but it has survived. This shows how the church as the mystical body of Christ has also survived and would survive all attacks remembering and holding unto the promise of Jesus that the gates of hell shall never prevail against the church.
So as we celebrate today, let us pray that God will preserve the unity of the Church against all satanic and devilish attacks.
Today too we round up our vocation week, which we started Monday. Vocation is from the Latin “voca – vocare- vocati – vocatum” (vocatio) which means to call. In Christian parlance, vocation is an invitation by God to you and I, first to the fundamental vocation, which is the Christian Vocation – the call to holiness of life. Then the vocation to Christian family life, from where we get the vocation to the priesthood and religious life.
I consider it a blessing to be called by God to serve him and as a person I have not regretted following God even though I leave with the pain of being separated from my mum, family and home but God who leads continues to be faithful in all his ways to those who follow him. Today I pray that more men and women will be willing to step forward and embrace the priesthood and religious life. In the past you sent missionaries and to us supported them and we are grateful. Our coming over here for mission is not a pay-back but a response to God’s invitation, a response to God’s call, it’s living out our vocation.
I also pray God to bless all families, the nursery bed from where we find the vocation to the priesthood and religious life. God bless you all.
Peace.
Fr. Theo.
