"We are the Church" - Feast of the Lateran Basilica homily

Jeff Cavins is a well-known scripture scholar and Catholic convert.

He has a video, I think it's a recent video posted online about a really powerful and heartbreaking plane ride.

The plane was delayed 15, 20 minutes for the last passenger to board.

It was a young woman who sat right next to him.

As soon as she sat down, she started crying.

And basically had our head and our hands weeping the entire flight.

Now he is a former pastor.

Expert, evangelizer,

He's online, he's got social media, he knows what to say and he says it very well.

And he said he didn't know what to say.

So all he could do was pray for her.

Eventually he asked her, and she continued to cry, what was going on, and she said that her brother had just died in a car accident, and she was going to identify his body.

So he continue to pray.

Ultimately asked for her name.

And then he said, are you a Christian?

She said yes I am a catholic

He put his hand on her shoulder.

He says, your brother in Christ.

I'm here for you.

And I'm praying for you.

So the flight lands, and she goes running off as soon as the doors open, understandably.

And then she came running back and gave him a big hug.

That is the Church, in my opinion.

That is the Church.

We have a celebration today of the Church.

A particular Church in Rome, the Lateran Basilica.

This dedication goes back to the 300s.

This was St.

Peter's before there were St.

Peter's.

It was known as the Mother of all Churches.

And as the readings indicate, there is great significance in the Church as building the House of God.

From the prophet Ezekiel we see that the flowing water from the temple is the Church today flowing graces, especially from the sacraments.

And in every Catholic Church we walk into, thankfully, we genuflect at the real presence of God.

This is His house and He lives here.

He dwells in the Eucharist, His risen body in the Tabernacle.

The Blessed Sacrament.

So we show great reverence and respect for the Church, the House of the Lord.

And St.

Paul says, the house of Lord is holy, but so are you.

You are a temple of God.

After mass last night, a person pulled me aside and said, God spoke directly to me with that second reading.

I'm really struggling to treat my body in a holy way.

And to hear, we probably heard before, but this time in our lives, that your body is a temple of God.

It's holy.

in the same category as temple, a Church.

We would never desecrate a temple or a Church.

We would never desecrate the Eucharist.

So we should not desecrate our body, which is holy.

But Church is the people of God.

That's why I say, good morning Church to start Mass We are the Church.

The Church is the body of Christ.

Later in 1 Corinthians and elsewhere in St.

Paul's letters, he says that Christ is the head of the Church is the body.

And he gives detail on this, like what we've experienced, like our hands, whenever we think about a little pinky, this little worthless little guy, little stub of a finger, and

I mock it or tease it, I mean I have little fingers anyway, but this little guy, I mean what's the point until you break it and your whole hand feels it?

And that's what he says, when one member suffers, the whole body feels it.

Think about those two members on that plane.

Jeff Cabins and that young woman.

She was hurting and he felt it.

If the whole plane had known it, the whole hand, the whole body would have felt it.

When one member suffers, all the members suffer.

When one members honored, all the members rejoice.

The Church is mother.

So I identify this feast and it might be strange for us on a Sunday, but it's November 9th, celebrated every year, the date of the dedication.

And every seven years it falls on a Sunday.

It's good to know the Church history and to understand this beautiful basilica, which is my favorite Church in Rome, St.

John Lateran.

Because of its strength, its beauty, and its history,

300s.

Gosh.

You go to Rome and it's like the Church in the States, we're still a baby.

Over there, churches are thousands of years old.

We're maybe decades here.

But those very words and qualities we could say about our mothers, strong, beautiful, great history of faith.

So to call it the Mother of All Churches shows its magnitude and strength and importance.

That's the Church.

But also the tenderness and the gentleness of Jeff Cavins with that young woman.

Motherly.

So the Church is strong.

It's beautiful.

It's loving.

It's built for God and us and led by God and us.