Dear friends,

We celebrate today the feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. This church is the cathedral church of the bishop of Rome i.e. pope Benedict.

The various Scripture readings of today revolve around the theme of the “temple” and illustrate the different ways in which that motif appears in the Bible: 1. the Jerusalem Temple, 2. the person of Jesus and 3.individual Christians.

It is strange, in Hebrew the same word is used for these three different realities: Temple, Family, body. Templeis בית המקדש, Bet HaMikdash  (the Holy House).  The temple is the house of God and the house of human beings. There is a strict link uniting these different realities. The inner beauty of a community of believers, as our Parish, finds its external expression in the beauty of the place where we worship.

Many visitors are astounded at the beauty of our church where everything seems to blend in harmony. I try to make them realize that it is the community that expressed it the harmonious unity of the building. Our community of faith is far more precious, far more beautiful that the outside hall where we worship.

We are aware that we can work together in joy because we have a sure and solid foundation-stone: Christ. What I mean by this is that we do things not only because we love and respect each, but we do things because of Christ. Should I work for the Archdiocese or for the remuneration I receive at the end of the month, it would not be wise. People tend to disappoint, institutions tend to use and to squeeze the last drop of energy from a person, making the person believe that it is essential, do drop it as a dry orange We do things to express our gratitude to God for loving us so much.

The bricks of this church are the individuals making up of our community. We are similar, yet different and we are kept together by love. This means that our relationship is characterized by mutual respect, esteem, trust, transparency.

To increase our transparency we have just finish an audit which has reassured us that we are on the right track, and pointed out areas where we have to improve. The Final report will be shared as soon as it will be made available to us.

The church is also beautiful because of different works of art: each one of us has a talent, a gift from god and it has been given to us so that we can make of it a gift to the community.

Do not keep your precious talent hidden, share it with the community. If you have a beautiful voice, join the choir, if you can pray, join the “prayer ministry”, if you have a talent with the youth, help us in this precious ministry” There is room for everybody. The excuses for remaining idles are many, but they are only excuses.

The malt that keeps us together is love: no matter the age or the gender we have to love each other. Paul reminds us that love is kind, humble, welcoming. Our love is the best advertisement for our Parish.

Many visitors have noted the special atmosphere we breathe at St. Therese and brought it to my attention. Yes, we try to be welcoming, hospitable, open, i.e. CHRISTIAN. We can improve a little bit: when you notice somebody who seems to be alone, new to the place, approach the person, talk to the person and show the person downstairs making sure that he share with us some of our food and joins a group. While in the basement don’t form clicks. I say “Don’t be Protestants” separating yourselves in little group. You show in this way that you are catholic, universal, that your heart is big enough to welcome and embrace everybody.

Finally, our church is clean, immaculate because our hearts should be immaculate. Dust accumulates easily, especially now that the heat is on. Sins accumulate easily on our souls. True enough, we are not big sinners, we don’t commit mortal sins, but when I look at the number of them, I am afraid and rush for a good soul-cleansing which is Confession.

The Church is “holy” because God’s Love is here. The person is sacred because the Holy Spirit dwells in its deepest part.

In time past, a temple was a place where a god was believed to be present in a special way.

The Jerusalem Temple was the central shrine of the Jewish people and the dwelling place   the God of Israel. The temple becomes the source of security, safety and hope because of Yahweh’s special presence there.

Jesus speaks of his body as a temple; St. Paul will continue in this line of reasoning, as we heard in the second reading, and he will identify the Church as “the temple of God” and the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.

The fact that every human being is a temple of God helps us to look at each other with a new eye. Since we believe that the people around us are: “living temples of God” we owe them respect. This basic respect is the foundation-stone of democracy based on the awareness that each person, no matter the gender or the race, deserves respect.

This belief is at the very root of the American Constitution and explains we everybody, although having different political views respects the view of others. The fact that we might have different vies doesn’t make us enemies, but copartner. This is why the church is against pornography and look at it as a profanation.

During the few moment of silence which will follow the homily, let us try to consider whether you ever think of yourself and the people around you as a temple of God? How might such a concept affect your actions?