Happy Orphans' Awareness Day!
As I was pondering on whether to honor Mary with a post on this Mother's Day, or to write on vocations on the World Day of Prayer for Vocations and Good Shepherd Sunday, I decided not to write on either. I hope Jesus and Mary will forgive me.
Instead I was inspired to write tangentially on the Mother and Head of all the churches of the City and of the World, St. John Lateran, and primarily on the church as our mother.
I've often said that my favorite church in the world is the Archbasilica of the Holy Savior and of Sts. John Baptist and John Evangelist in the Lateran, or St. John Lateran for short. The funny thing is that I've never been to the church (at least not yet), but I feel a sense of unity with it because it is the "mother church" of the Catholic faith. Being the oldest church of Rome and the Pope's Cathedral, it holds a special place in the Catholic world, for as the cathedral of any diocese is the head and mother church of that diocese, so St. John Lateran is the head and mother church of the Catholic Faith.
When I lived in Rockford, one of my favorite experiences was going to the Cathedral of St. Peter for Mass. This was for two reasons: first, because I loved the marble in it, secondly, because it always felt like going home to mom. There was always a unity which I felt when attending Mass in the cathedral with the bishop.
Now that I live in Lincoln and go to the Cathedral of the Risen Christ every Sunday and numerous times a week, I'll admit that feeling has lessened a little. But even now, the cathedral still holds a special place in my heart, because it never feels like Mass there is "complete," unless the bishop is celebrating.
The point I'm trying to emphasize is the impact the church building can have on our lives. One of my favorite Augustine quotes is the one from The Confessions where he, or one of his friends, asks the question, "Is it then the walls that make Christians?" Part of the answer is obvious; the walls do not make Christians. There are plenty of Christians in the church building outside of the Church. But there are not Christians outside the church building inside the Church.
Even those who are unable to physically come to the church are present when the Church prays for "our absent brethren."
The church building is where our Christian lives begin and end. It is where we are nourished. It is where we rejoice and mourn. It is where some of our most intimate moments take place. It is our mother.
As long as we have the church, then, we can never be orphans. The church is a building we should intimately know. Like our earthly mothers, it needs to be loved and cared for, for it is a physical representation of the Church, i.e. Christ and us, His Body.
Our Christian lives begin when we are given new birth at the baptismal font; we are brought into the sanctuary at every Mass on the altar. We are fed with the Holy Eucharist in the church. We should spend much of our time in conversation with our Lord within the church. We are forgiven and shown the mercy of God within the confessional. And at the very end of our earthly lives, we will be finally commended to God within the church.
Do we not experience every year within the church? Is it not where our songs of praise echo forth? Is it not where we mourn? And in turn, is it not where we rejoice at many of life's greatest moments?
The church building is truly a mother to us, for our mothers gave earthly birth to us; they nourish us. They at least desire to be there in our desolation and to give us consolation. Love not only the Church in the Mystical Body of Christ, but let your love for her flow into love for the very building of the church.
Our Lady, Mother of the Church, pray for us!
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