From the Heart of Rome to Our Community of Faith

Today the Church sets aside the normal liturgy of the 32nd

Sunday to celebrate the dedication of a church: the

Cathedral of Rome dedicated to the Beloved Disciple, Saint

John. This cathedral was built by the emperor Constantine

in 324AD, just after he declared Christianity a lawful

religion within the Empire. The end of State persecution

meant that, for the first time, Christians could worship in

public churches, rather than in catacombs and private

houses in secret. The Lateran Basilica is still the cathedral

of the Christian community in Rome and for a thousand

years it was the residence of the Pope, who now, as you

know, lives in the Vatican State, across the Tiber and

outside the walls of the ancient city.

The Lateran Basilica of Saint John was the first public

church in the symbolic heart of the Church. It has been

called, therefore, the ‘mother of all churches’. In effect,

today, throughout the Catholic Church, every diocese is

celebrating its link with the community and bishop of

Rome. Indeed every parish is celebrating its life as the

family of God. It is a fitting occasion to look at ourselves

and at our church, the spiritual home of our community

family.

It is here, in the church, that we receive so many of the

sacraments that nourish and heal our souls. It is here that we

are received into the community at Baptism. It is here that

some have received the anointing of the Spirit of Jesus in

Confirmation. At the Eucharist, we are drawn by grace to

the hill of Calvary where we look on the one whom we

have pierced and receive love and life from his pierced

heart. It is here that we come to receive Jesus into our hearts

in Holy Communion. It is here that we come to

Reconciliation and it is here that we come to celebrate, at

the heart of the community, the Sacrament of Matrimony.

As we celebrate with gratitude and love our communion

with the Christian community of Rome and so with the

other thousand million Catholic Christians throughout the

world, we thank God for this our local community and for

the miracles of grace that constantly happen here. May the

fire of love from the heart of Jesus capture our own hearts,

and may we have the courage to take it out into our

neighbourhood, that the ‘Sacred Heart of Jesus may be

everywhere loved’. May our Mother, Mary, who was at the

heart of the Pentecost community, guide us towards Jesus

and show us how to be his disciples.

Fr. Janusz Roginski, S.A.C.