November 8: Preparing to Celebrate Sunday’s Mass / Preparándonos para Celebrar la Misa Dominical

After centuries of severe persecutions of the Church, the first Christian Emperor, Constantine, had a church built on land that once belonged to the Laterini family. That 4th century church has changed much over the centuries, but serves as the precursor of the present Basilica on the same site. The Baptistery attached to the present Basilica is where Emperor Constantine was baptized. 

The Lateran Basilica now serves as the Cathedral church of the Diocese of Rome. It is the Pope’s own church in his capacity as Bishop of Rome, his Cathedral. For that reason, it has the title, “the Mother and head of all the churches of the city and the world,” and that includes our own parish church here at Holy Cross. 

While our church is much smaller than the Lateran Basilica, both are equally “monuments” to people’s faith. In the second reading for this Sunday’s Mass, St. Paul will tell us: “You are God’s building, you are God’s temple.” 

More fundamental than the buildings we call churches are the people we call “the Church.” The buildings are there to help us to express our identity as a people of faith, as a people called to worship God, through Christ, in the Spirit. Our whole life is to be a movement toward God, through Christ, and in the Spirit. This is what it means to be Church, to be the temple of God in the world. This is the heart of our calling as a people and it is what we celebrate with joy this weekend.

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Por siglos y siglos más, hemos construido templos para dar culto a Dios. Pero esos templos no tienen sentido si no apuntan hacia la Iglesia, el Cuerpo de Cristo, animado por su Espíritu. Dios está presente, en primer lugar, allí donde está el pueblo cristiano reunido con su fe, esperanza, y amor. Nosotros somos la Iglesia, y por la gracia de Dios nosotros hacemos la Iglesia; somos sus piedras vivas para la construcción. 

En la Misa dominical, vamos a celebrar la Fiesta la Dedicación de la Basílica de Letrán en Roma. Esta Basílica es “la madre” de todas las iglesias y fue mandada a construir por el emperador Constantino en el año 324. Este templo es la Catedral de Roma, del Obispo de Roma el Papa León. 

Cuando venimos al templo ,especialmente cuando celebramos el Día del Señor,  expresamos que somos “el nuevo pueblo vivo” de Dios que construye nuestras vidas en Cristo. Celebramos esta Fiesta para recordar que estamos unidos por una misma fe y que la Iglesia de Roma, la Iglesia del Apóstol San Pedro, es el punto de referencia fundamental de nuestra fe.