In the latest “Sunday Word” column for the Florida Catholic, Father Alfredo Hernández writes about Christian identity as “God’s building”:
The foundation that is Christ
Above the entrance to the cathedral of Rome, St. John Lateran, an inscription reads, “The Mother of all the Churches, of the City and the World.” The dedication of the Lateran Basilica in 324 marked a new era for the Church. With official recognition by the Emperor Constantine (who donated the basilica) came new opportunities for evangelization and worship, but also the challenges that came with being too close to the throne to be able to criticize it.
We celebrate this feast in order to celebrate our union with the Church of Rome. If we, as the local Church of our own diocese and parish, wish to bear fruit — if we wish to bring forth the life that the waters pouring out of the Temple foretell in the vision of Ezekiel — then we have to be united with the Mother of all the Churches — the Church of Rome, the Church of Peter.
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