One of the
interesting things about the Latin American people is that majority of them
cannot walk pass a Church building without bowing and making the sign of the
cross. The more interesting thing is that even those who do not usually enter
the church still do the bowing and the sign of the cross. The reason may be
cultural. This means that it could be some kind of traditional religious piety
entrenched in the culture. Whatever it is, they still do that up till today.
And today we celebrate the feast of the dedication of a church building, St. John Lateran. This basilica has the history of being
the first church building completed in AD 324, November 9, and dedicated for
the worship of God in a Catholic Christian world. It is symbolical because of
what it represents to the people: the end of a brutal persecution that left
hundreds of thousands of Catholics dead. It is also a symbol of religious
freedom or freedom of worship. Today we
have millions of Church edifices with different architectural styles all over
the world. Each church building has at least an architectural works that says
something about the culture of the people, the saints connected to the culture
and some sacred vessels for worship that bears the imprint of the people’s
culture.
The Church for
many years has been the place of gathering of the members of the community; it
is a symbol of unity and faith for each community that has one. It is a place
where we establish the fact that we exist, survive and live together. The
basilica of St John Lateran became a sign from God that the gates of the
netherworld can never prevail against his people. This is also the symbol of
the church building in our local communities. The Church doors should be open
for anyone who seeks quiet moment with God. It is a place people go for inner
peace, healing, and the forgiveness of their sins. The church building brings
people together not for political purposes; and it shouldn’t be a place for
financial transaction or trade either. The church should be a place where
hospitality, charity, and respect of human dignity are exemplified. It should
be a place of hope for the hopeless, shelter for the homeless, free banquet for
the hungry and most importantly refuge for sinners. Life should flow from the
Church to revive the spirit of the many that walk along our streets half dead
due to economic hardships, social injustices, and psychological torture. In the
Church, no one should be condemned either by word of mouth or by attitude. I
believe that people who go into church desire to experience all the things
mentioned here. The question is, “what does the Church building mean for people
of our time, especially the young people?”
In Europe and North
America, Churches dedicated to God like The Lateran Basilica, are closing or
been sold-out and used for things like business (money changers’ game). As
churches close, more prisons are been built and young people are forced into
it. As churches close more hotels, resort centers, casinos, amusement parks and
movie theaters and sports centers are been built. These offer services to
people but they can never replace the symbol of the Church for us. People are
being killed by mass murderers in movie theaters, sports centers and amusement
parks. We do not hear such news in the Church.
Young people
move away from the Church in the so-called civilized world because there is
conflict in their hearts. Many big Church buildings in big cities are very
close to each other. This may appear like sign of overwhelming faith but it is
not; it is more of the sign of extreme segregation existing among people who
claim to believe in the same Lord and savior. In those days, an Irish cannot
enter a Polish church; a German cannot let French person into ‘their Church’;
blacks are not allowed in the “White man church”; and Latinos dare not come
close to other races. People built churches for themselves and not for God.
Besides, the Church has a message different from what the contemporary society
is saying. The Church says forgive unconditionally, the modern world says revenge
is sweet and manly. When the Church says ‘Do not use sexual intercourse as
fun,’ the modern society says ‘You are free to use your body as you wish.’ The
Church preaches the value of meditation and quietness, the world of technology
produces more musical apparatus that we can fix in our ears and shut out other
people from ourselves. The young people want the Church program and messages to
meet them where they are, but what they see are scandals and what they hear
most times are messages dragging them where they are not yet ready to be. The
Church becomes more like grandmother living with the fourth generation of her
kids, and trying to force them into her experience as teenager. What this
grandma says makes a lot of sense though; unfortunately, it does not add up so
well in the minds of these young people.
When we build
anything and dedicate it to God, His spirit inhabits the thing or object, and
he makes his presence felt in it. It is about time we stopped looking at the
Church as belonging to the pope, the bishops or the pastors. The Church does
not also belong to any individual or group of individuals, not you not me, but
to all of us together. However, there are still lots of money changing in the
Church, and these need to be cleaned up. For those that still use the Church for
their personal gains, be warned because the Lord Jesus Christ still has his
whip of cord in his hands, and do not think he will spare us if we make
ourselves into money changers in the church. As the living water still flows
from the Southside of the Church, let us swim deeper in it and be filled with
life.
