The Dedication of the Mother of All Churches
Summary of Headings
The Mother of All Churches
The reading of the book of the Apocalypse. In those days I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a voice, a great voice from the throne, saying, Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people, and God himself with them shall be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and death shall be no more. No mourning, no crying, no sorrow shall be any more. For the former things are passed away. And he that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. The continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke. At that time Jesus entering in walked through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, who was the chief of the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus, who he was. And he could not follow the crowd, because he was low of stature. And running before he climbed up into a sycamore tree, that he might see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus was come to the place, looking up, he saw him, and said to him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for this day I must abide in thy house. And he made haste and came down, and received him with joy. And when all saw it, they murmured, saying that he was gone to be a guest with a man that was rich. And he said to him, Zacchaeus, I am a sinner. But Zacchaeus, standing, said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have wronged any man of anything, I restore him fourfold. Jesus said to him, This day is salvation, coming to this house. Because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. You may be seated. Some announcement for this Sunday. Happy feast day. It's a beautiful feast of the first church in the Catholic world dedicated to the Holy Savior. Tomorrow there will be Mass at 5.45. Not 7.15. Just wake up earlier. It's fine. In French we say that the future is in the hands of people waking up early. If you stay in bed too late, it's bad for you. The rest of the schedule, just look at the bulletin. Everything is as usual. This coming Sunday will be the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost. Today the second collection is for the building fund. It's providential with this beautiful feast of the dedication of the first church. The second name also of the Holy Savior, you know it better. It's St. John of Lateran. St. John the Baptist of Lateran. Holy Name Society will meet after this Mass. And on December 7 there is a market day after the three morning Masses. Just look at the bulletin for this announcement. Advent is coming soon. You can get help from the bookstore to prepare this beautiful feast of Christmas. Don't miss it. We need to prepare our heart, to prepare our soul for the coming of the Savior. It's a time of purification. A time of hope as well. It's always very important to prepare the big feast. That's why in the Catholic Church you have all these before the big feast days. Quite often an eve of preparation. And we have that for Easter with the 40 days of penance. And we have that also before Christmas. During this beautiful preparation of Advent. The name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen. In those days I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne saying, Behold the tabernacle of God with men. And he will dwell there. And he will be with them. The mother of all churches. We celebrate this dedication of the mother of all churches throughout the world. Consecration was today in 324. November 9, 324. You see, you can be patient before getting your church here. Because the first Catholic in Rome, they waited for about 300 years. You won't live so long. But just be ready to be more patient. It's okay. It's okay. After you have a beautiful church like St. John of Lateran. The Holy Savior. It was built by Constantine, the first Catholic emperor. Roman emperor. And you know that just close to this church, there is another beautiful church. It's less than half a mile. That was given by the mother of Constantine, St. Helen. Who discovered the relics of the Holy Cross. And she brought back from Jerusalem a lot of relics of the Passion and the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's this church. That was her palace. And she gave her palace to be the church of all these relics. The Holy Cross of Jerusalem. Half a mile from the Holy Savior. Today the Gospel on this beautiful Mass of the Dedication encourages us, all of us, to improve the temple of God. And I know that many of you, you participate. In this work of improving at least this place for now. Yesterday I saw a good number of generous souls working all around to improve the place. To maintain the place. To improve the temple of God for the living worship of the Holy Liturgy and for spiritual life. The epistle of today is the wonderful vision of St. John. Regarding the Liturgy of the New Testament. Our Liturgy today. And the Liturgy is heaven on earth. And that's why you're here today. To have a little piece of this heaven for you. And to bring it back home. To sustain the weak. The Liturgy is heaven on earth so that all creation may glorify God. And you can see that whatever object we use in the Liturgy. You have all the creatures glorifying God. Our churches, our chapels must be prepared and adorned like a bride for her husband. Everything must be very beautiful. And we do our best to make it very beautiful. It's alive. It's alive. You see a church is not something dead. Church is to bring the word of God in our world. I would say the verb of God. There's a big problem with the English translation. Because this is not the proper translation. The Spanish speakers they will understand that Verbum Dei is not the word of God. But the verb of God. What is this big difference? I think it's good to have this equivalency with the question of the church. Which is made out of stones. But it's full of life. Like a sentence receives life from the verb. Not from the word. The word is dead. Your sentence. Your speech receives life from the verb. That has no limit in time. It's beautiful to see that in our language. The life received in the language is coming from the verb. It's a beautiful meditation that you can use during the week. Look at your language. That receives life from the verb. And that's why our Lord Jesus Christ is the verb of God. Bringing life into this world. Bringing life into this church. Bringing life to the stones of a church. St. John Chrysostom put these words on the lips of our Lord. Why do you call it a crime to try to bring sinners into the church? I am so far from hatred. They are the cause of my coming on earth. I came as a doctor. Not as a judge. So I don't disdain to become the guest of the sick. And I support the stench of their wounds. To be able to give the most effective remedies. Beautiful words. That may be in contradiction with the words of St. Paul. You know the severity of St. Paul regarding those who were betraying the verb of God. St. John Chrysostom speaks of the words of St. Paul. He speaks about the newcomers. Those who were pagans before and converting. Those who were sinners before. Ignorant and converting to the faith. St. Paul when he speaks about those bad Catholics. Cast out the wicked from among you. They know. And they sin. That's why he is much more severe for all these bad Catholics. The first work of mercy. The most important work of mercy. Is to instruct the ignorance. This is what the building of a church will do by itself. And the life inside. The life of the liturgy will do by itself. By itself. A church and its liturgy is teaching. It's teaching. It's instructing the ignorance. Today. Today many baptized souls are like pagans. Ignorant. And the first responsible are Catholic parents. Who didn't teach their children. And a lot of the clergy. What a curse. What a curse we have in our time. We have these words in St. Luke. When he entered the temple. He began to cast out those who were selling. And those who were buying. And he said to them. It's written. My house is a house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves. We could say the same today. And the worst thieves today. Are unfortunately all these clerics. Who lie to their souls. Who change the gospel. According to their worldly thoughts and behaviors. They open the gates of hell. Instead of leading the gate. To the gates of heaven. And unfortunately with all these new liturgy. And all the abuses we see today. In the church. They brought the abomination of desolation. Into the sanctuary. And in the end. Removing it. Removing the divine presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a terrible fate. What a terrible fate. And as the law of prayer. Determines the law of faith. And vice versa. We should not be surprised. To see the church in such a desolation. After nearly 60 years of betrayal. Of sin. Of violence. Apostasy. Yes. The liturgy is the most beautiful action we have on earth. Yes. We need all these churches. To shelter this life. This divine action of the liturgy. All this is a teaching. A fighting today's ignorance. Liturgy is heaven on earth. Behold the tabernacle of God with men. And he shall dwell with them. Today salvation has come into this house. For the son of man is come to seek. And to save what was lost. All churches are built to celebrate. The sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. To worship God. And to give eternal life. To the faithful. Revealing their vocation. And giving them all the necessary means. To achieve their vocation. This sacrifice gives us the true sacramental presence. Of our Lord Jesus Christ. Kept so preciously in the tabernacle of our churches. Our churches are holy sanctuaries. That provide sinners with the means. All the means of sanctification. My dear faithful. In this church. In these churches. You are the living stones. That are necessary. In this life of the church. In this life of the liturgy. And as you are the living stone. All together you are one. You are strong. You are magnificent. And you are radiating the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. From the churches. From the living stones. From the holy liturgy. Yes, today salvation has come into this house. For the Son of Man has come to seek. And to save what was lost. Let us ask today to our Lady of Victory. She is the Pastoress also of this place. With Saint Philomena. She is the Refuge of sinners. That's why we are here. Because we are all sinners. She is the Mother of Divine Grace. And we are here because we need this Divine Grace. She is the Mother of Good Counsel. Because we need all these counsels in our life. To please our Lord Jesus Christ. And as the church can be as well. Our Blessed Lady is the Gate of Heaven. In the name of the Father. And the Son of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Summary
The reading of the book of the Apocalypse. In those days I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a voice, a great voice from the throne, saying, Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people, and God himself with them shall be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and death shall be no more. No mourning, no crying, no sorrow shall be any more. For the former things are passed away. And he that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. Today the Gospel on this beautiful Mass of the Dedication encourages us, all of us, to improve the temple of God. And I know that many of you, you participate. In this work of improving at least this place for now. Yesterday I saw a good number of generous souls working all around to improve the place. To maintain the place. To improve the temple of God for the living worship of the Holy Liturgy and for spiritual life.