Today the Church celebrates the Feast of he Dedication of the Lateran Basilica. This Basilica, constructed by the Emperor Constantine, is called the mother church of Christendom. The readings today all refer to buildings in one way or another. The first reading talks about the temple in Ezekiel 47. The second reading talks about how “you are the temple of God.” And in the Gospel reading, we see a scene with Jesus in the temple.
In John 2, we read the story of Jesus turning over the tables of the money-changers in the temple area. He says, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” The Scripture then tells us, “His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me.” This is a reference to Psalm 69. He then goes on to say, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” Of course, He was talking about the temple of His body.
Let me ask you a question today: Does zeal for God’s house (the Church) consume you? Do you even have zeal at all? Let’s try it another way with a variation of the word. Are you zealous about your faith? Some folks take that word as a negative. I hope you don’t. Because if your faith is not worth being zealous over, then why bother at all? If you’re just lukewarm, you may as well just pack it in. (See Revelation 3:16 for clarification.) When it comes to our Catholic faith, zeal is good!
Father, give us zeal for our faith! Save us from the diseases of lukewarm-ness and indifference. May we imitate Jesus in having zeal for Your house! Amen.
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