祝聖拉脫朗大殿
主題：我們都是聖殿
梅瑟蒙召解放以色列人脫離埃及的奴役，過了紅海，到西乃山與天主訂立盟約。他按天主的吩咐造了一個約櫃，安放著天主所頒佈的十誡。天主就用這種形式與他們在曠野同行了40年。
進入客納罕福地定居下來，建立了以色列國之後，在公元前957年，撒羅滿王在耶路撒冷建成第一座聖殿，把約櫃與梅瑟在曠野高舉過的銅蛇，供奉在內。雖然天主藉依撒意亞先知曾表示過天是天主的寶座，地是天主的腳凳，天主不需要住在人手建造的聖殿（依66：1）。但聖殿是有存在價值的。一方面它表示天主的臨在；另一方面，它又是聚集萬民，祈禱崇拜天主的好地方。但好境不常，以色列沒有遵守誡命，結果召來亡國之痛。在公元前721年，北國以色列率先亡國予亞述。在公元前586年，南國猶大繼而亡國，座落耶路撒冷有370年歷史的聖殿被毀，約櫃與銅蛇，從此下落不明。大部份猶大國人，充軍巴比倫。
厄則克耳是舊約的「四大先知」之一。他在猶大國亡國前十年，與所有貴族及壯丁，已先被擄往巴比倫做人質。在那裡天主召叫他做先知，給他神視之恩，並傳達天主的說話去鼓勵安慰後來一齊充軍的同胞，告訴他們天主仍與他們同行。厄則克耳在猶大國亡國之前是一個司祭，所以對聖殿有一份不能磨滅的感情。亦因如此，先知書記載的最後一個神視，亦是有關新聖殿的神視。今天的第一篇讀經就是該神視的一部份。公元前538年，波斯帝國滅巴比倫，波斯王居魯士恩准猶大國人回國，他的兒子達理亞更資助他們重建聖殿。厄則克耳的神視應驗了一部份。至於從聖殿流出的水有滋養生命，治療疾病的神視，就有待耶穌基督來應驗了。
在今天所讀的福音中的聖殿就是公元前515年落成的第二座聖殿，它亦經歷希臘帝國和羅馬帝國的摧殘，到公元前20年，大黑落德為了討好猶太人，開始維修並擴建這第二座聖殿，到耶穌清理聖殿的時候，已擴建了46年了。這聖殿，在公元70年，羅馬帝國鎮壓猶太人叛亂時一把火燒了，結束了它的585年歷史。當年耶穌不滿聖殿的司祭，貪污腐敗，把聖殿變成為詐騙斂財的地方，而不是萬民祈禱敬拜天主的地方。於是耶穌義憤填膺，驅逐商人，清理聖殿。結果招至殺身之禍，完成贖世的工程。在福音中，耶穌清楚表示自己就是那座「不經人手所興建的真正聖殿。」更好說，聖殿只不過是一個記號，象徵在基督內天人聚合，天人合一。
其實耶穌更加是湧到永生的活水。在耶穌受難的時候，有士兵為了保証耶穌真是在十字架上死了，就用長矛刺透耶穌的肋膀。立刻就有血和水從刺穿了的肋膀湧出。我們相信，這血和水不單表示耶穌為了拯救人類所作的完全交付，並且，這是天主的意思，藉聖洗聖事治好我們的罪過，並以耶穌的聖血，滋養我們的靈魂。
耶穌升天及聖神降臨後，門徒數目雖然大增，但仍未成氣候。他們在教友的家中團聚擘餅，是「家庭教會」，亦即是今天所說的「基基團」。當遇到本地官員的欺凌或羅馬帝國的逼害時，他們的組織不能是公開的地上教會，而是冒生命危險在地下墓穴舉行主的晚餐的，名副其實的「地下教會」。有意見認為在禮儀中獻香，除了象徵祈禱上達於天主台前之外，還有辟臭辟蟲的實際作用。終於，守得雲開見月明，羅馬帝國的逼害結束了，教會進入一個昇平的時代了。
今天我們所慶祝的「祝聖拉脫朗大殿節」的拉脫朗大殿，是羅馬四大教堂之首，被稱為「一眾聖堂之母」。約在公元313年，君士旦丁大帝把它贈送給羅馬的主教，於公元324年祝聖，後來更成了教宗的座堂，已有1690年歷史。是君士旦丁令基督徒可以享有「信仰自由」，是他開創先河，令以後的王帝、貴族，慷慨地捐贈大量物業和土地給教會。也是這個原故，紀念「主的晚餐」由一個簡單的擘餅晚餐，慢慢進化成充滿宮廷禮節的彌撒。其實聖堂最重要的，不單是建築上的氣魄或者是令人肅然起敬的祈禱氣氛，而是在聖堂裡祈禱的人。
聖伯多祿和聖保祿兩位宗徒都不約而同教訓說：「我們是建造耶穌基督這座屬神殿宇的活石（伯前2:5），是聖神的宮殿（格前3：16）。」既然我們是聖殿，就讓我們默想我們有甚麽可以流出，滋養治療別人的生命。
首先，我們沒有讀過醫科，又不會行神蹟，又怎樣醫治別人呢？沒有讀過醫科，對。我們真的不會行神蹟，錯！事實上，醫治的力量來自耶穌基督，我們只不過是負責輸送天主恩寵的渠道。我們蒙召成聖，不是憑自己的法力行神蹟，而是把天主的恩寵傳送給別人，同時亦享受在傳送過程中所通過我們的恩寵。聖母是滿被聖寵者，不是因為她修行多年，累積了很多聖寵，很大的法力，而是她接受天主的召叫，把恩寵之源，耶穌基督輸送到這世界上。是她告訴耶穌婚宴上沒有酒了，是她站在十字架下接受了教會之母的任務，是她在耶穌升天後陪著耶穌復活後所聚集到的120個門徒，在她陪伴下，聖神降臨，開始了「教會的時代」。天主是不會偏心的，祂不會給聖母很多恩寵，給我們小小恩寵，我們與聖母的分別在於我們的輸送管是否暢通，有沒有閉塞。
我們暢通嗎？我們自己有沒有勤領聖事，與主結合呢？我有沒有祈禱讀經，體會耶穌的心意，好能把祂的恩寵輸送給別人呢？
我們閉塞嗎？常見的一種閉塞是驕傲。上星期的福音所講的山羊與綿羊的比喻，可以理解為鼓勵大家多行愛德，服事弱小者身上的耶穌基督。但大家有沒有反轉來想一想，調轉身份，成為饑渴者、病弱者，自己成為耶穌的化身，謙遜地接受他人的服事，造就他人成為輸送天主恩寵的渠道呢？這樣做，我們豈不做到了「在病弱中成聖自己、在接受服事中聖化他人」嗎？就讓我們繼續努力，成聖自己，聖化他人，轉化世界。
天主保祐。
Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica
Theme: All of us are temples
God called Moses to liberate the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. They crossed the Red Sea and reached Mount Sinai to seal the Old Covenant with God. Moses followed God’s instructions to build an Ark of Covenant and put the Ten Commandments in it. In this manner, God accompanied the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years.
After settling in Canaan to build up the Kingdom of Israel, King Solomon finished building the first Temple in Jerusalem in 957 B.C. In this Temple, he put the Ark of Covenant and the Bronze Serpent which Moses had once raised in the wilderness for adoration. Though God spoke through Isaiah that heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool, that he does not need to rest in a Temple built by man (Isaiah 66:1), the Temple still has its intrinsic values. On the one hand, the Temple signifies the presence of God among men. On the other, it is a good place to gather all peoples to pray and worship God. Unfortunately, the fidelity of Israelites was short-lived. They did not observe the commandments and ended up being conquered. In 721 B.C., the northern kingdom Israel was annihilated by the Assyrians. In 586 B.C., the southern kingdom Judah had fallen into the hand of the Babylonians. The 370-year-old First Temple of Jerusalem was burnt down. The Ark of Covenant and the Bronze Serpent were nowhere to be found. Most of the people of Judah were exiled to Babylon.
Ezekiel was one of the Four Major Prophets of the Old Testament. Ten years before the fall of Judah, he was captured as hostages together with the aristocrats and strong young men to Babylon. There, God called him to be a prophet and gave him the gift of vision to pass on God’s words of consolation to those exiles who joined him later, telling them that God exiled with them. Before Judah was conquered, Ezekiel was a priest. He had an inerasable emotional bond with the Temple. That was why the last vision recorded in the book was a vision related to the new Temple. The first reading we heard today is part of that vision. In 538 B.C., Persia conquered Babylon. Cyrus the Persian king allowed the exiles of Judah to return home. His son Darius even subsidized their rebuilding of the Temple. The vision of Ezekiel was partly fulfilled. That part of the life-giving water flowing out from the Temple had to wait for its fulfillment in Jesus.
The Temple we read in the gospel today was the Second Temple built in 515 B.C. It also went through sacrileges and vandalism during the Greek and Roman empires. In 20 B.C., in order to please the Jews, Herod the Great renovated and extended this Second Temple. When Jesus cleansed it, the building project had gone through 46 years. This Temple too was burnt down in 70 A.D. by the Roman army when it suppressed the first Jewish Revolt, thus ending its history of 585 years. What infuriated Jesus was the mismanagement of the priests whose corruption had turned the Temple from a house of prayer for the peoples into a house of cheats. Consequently, Jesus was killed to fulfill his salvation project. In the incident, Jesus made it clear that he himself is the true Temple which is not built by human hands. To put it better, the Temple was only a sign symbolizing the communion of God and men in Jesus.
In fact, Jesus is the living water running towards eternal life. During his Passion, a soldier, in order to ensure the death of Jesus, pierced his side with a spear. Immediately, blood and water gushed out from his wound. We believe that this water and blood not only show how Jesus totally surrendered himself in the redemption of mankind, but it is also a means with which God intends to heal us through baptism and to nourish our souls through the Eucharist.
After Jesus’ ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit, the number of disciples multiplied but the Christian community was still insignificant. They broke bread in the houses of the disciples. They formed ‘house churches’, or ‘basic Christian Communities’ in modern jargon. When the local officials bullied them, or when the Empire systematically persecuted them, they could not officially be recognized as churches. Christians had to risk their lives to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in the catacomb. They were truly ‘underground churches’. Some experts opine that the incense offered in liturgy not only symbolizes our prayers reaching up to heaven, but also served practical purposes as deodorant and insect repellent. At last, Roman persecution ended. The Church has entered a peaceful era.
The Lateran Basilica whose dedication we celebrate today ranks the oldest and the first of the four major basilicas in Rome. It has been honoured the mother and head of all the churches in the city and the world “omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput”. Around 313 A.D., Constantine gave it to the bishop of Rome. It was consecrated in 324 A.D. and later made the cathedral of the Roman Pontiff. It is already sixteen hundred and ninety years old. It was Constantine who gave religious freedom to Christians. It was him who set a precedent for subsequent kings and nobles of donating mansions and land to the Church. And it is because of this practice that the simple bread-breaking Lord’s Supper has evolved into a mass that is full of regal pomp and ceremony. In fact, the most important element in a church building is not its awe commanding architecture or its solemn prayerful atmosphere. It is the people who pray in it.
Both Ss. Peter and Paul teach that we are living stones which build up the spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5) and God’s temples (1 Corinthians 3:6). Since we are God’s temples, let us meditate what flows out from us that nourishes and heals.
Firstly, we have not studied medicines, nor can we work miracles, how do we heal? Haven’t studied medicines? You’re probably right. Unable to work miracles? Wrong! Indeed, healing powers come from Jesus Christ. We are only channels responsible for the transmission of God’s grace. We are called to be holy, not to work miracles with our magical powers, but to channel God’s grace to others and in doing so, enjoy the grace that goes through us. Our Lady is “full of grace”, not because she has practised contemplation for ages, thus accumulating a lot of graces and powers. Rather, it is because she humbly accepted God’s call to bring forth the source of all graces, Jesus Christ into this world. It was she who told Jesus that people had drunk up all the wine in the wedding banquet. It was she who stood under the cross to be given the mission to be the Mother of the Church. It was she who accompanied the 120 disciples Jesus gathered before his ascension. With Our Lady around, the Holy Spirit descended and inaugurated the Age of the Church. God will not favour Our Lady by giving her many graces and giving us little. The difference between the BVM and us is whether our channel is obstructed or not.
Is our channel unobstructed? Are we in communion with the Lord through receiving the sacraments frequently? Do we know the will of the Lord through prayers and bible studies? Can we channel His grace to the others unobstructed?
Is our channel obstructed? One of the most popular obstructions is pride. The message of the gospel reading last week (Matthew 25:31-46) can be interpreted as an encouragement for us to do more charities, to serve Jesus Christ in the needy. But have you ever thought about it upside down, about a switch of roles to become the hungry, the thirst and the sick, to become an incarnated Christ to humbly accept the service of the others, making them a channel of God’s grace? In so doing, haven’t we “sanctify ourselves in our sickness, sanctify others in being served”? Let us work hard to sanctify ourselves, sanctify others and transform the world.
God bless.
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