In the middle of my homily this weekend, it occurred to me what I should have preached.
This Sunday, in the Roman Catholic Church, we celebrated the feast of the building of the first official church building of the Roman Empire. Donated by the Emperor Constantine, the church of St. John Lateran in Rome is the Pope's church. The gospel was about Jesus driving the money-changers and livestock merchants.
I could have used it to talk about having reverence in church, about how our church is not the place to come in and visit. The church is a place where we encounter God and remind ourselves that we have sinned and are in need of God's mercy. Too much ancillary activity on the Temple Mount caused Jesus to get angry and we need to be mindful of the respect we have for God when we walk into this dedicated space.
Instead, I used it to talk about the typical "You are the church! We are the Church. The church is not a building!" typical homily. I wish I would have figured it out earlier.
1 comment:
I just hate those moments....I had one last week, when I was teaching Confirmation on All Souls day, when I had the perfect chance to talk about heaven, hell, purgatory and indulgences. However we instead disected the Our Father :(
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