Homily for the Dedication of the Basilica of the Holy Saviour
Today the Church commemorates the dedication of the Basilica of the Most Holy Saviour, otherwise known as the Basilica of St John Lateran, one of the four patriarchal basilicas in the Eternal City and the Pope’s own cathedral. As such, it is considered among the most important churches in the world, and this is why liturgically Catholics around the world keep this day in veneration.
Historically, the Church has put much effort into both the consecration of her buildings of worship and its annual commemoration. The reason is simple: when we consecrate a church building, we are doing much more than designating a particular edifice as a place to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass – even though that alone would justify the elaborate ritual. When we celebrate the dedication of a church, we are essentially celebrating and honouring God’s decision to take up His residence among us on earth, in two ways: in each individual soul, in His grace, and in the group of believers as a whole that we call “the Church”. At the same time, we look forward in faith to that eternal dwelling in which God lives and to which He calls us. From this last perspective, it is providential that this feast falls towards the end of the liturgical year, reminding us of the world to come toward which we are hastening at present.
Today, I will limit myself to a few thoughts on the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in the souls of the just, indwelling which effectively makes of each soul in God’s grace a veritable temple to the Divine Majesty. Yesterday was the feast of St Elizabeth of the Trinity, the Carmelite of Dijon who lived from 1880 to 1906 and who breathed her last as the community was singing first vespers of the Dedication. This was most providential, as St Elizabeth’s whole life, from the day she was told, as a girl, that her name means House of God, would be one long, intimate search to be present to the Eternal God who loves us so much that He comes to take up residence in her soul.
We touch here on one of the most neglected points of our faith, namely that in a soul that has been justified and that is in a state of sanctifying grace, God Himself dwells in a very particular manner. Not just like He is present in all of creation by His power, essence and presence, but by a very special mode of presence by which He deigns to admit us to His intimate friendship and even adopts us into His own Family. The mystery of the divine indwelling is so profound that our words really are insufficient to express all that it implies.
St Elizabeth attempted in numerous ways to describe this mystery and to share it with others. One of them was through the little phrase she used to refer to herself. In reading the epistles of St Paul, to which she had a very great devotion, she came upon this expression at the beginning of the epistle to the Ephesians, in which the apostle says that we are destined to be the “praise of His glory” – Laudem Gloriae. The young Carmelite knew right there and then that her life would achieve that: she would be the praise of God’s glory. One day she attempted to explain what she meant by that, and here is what she flowed forth from her pen:
‘The “praise of glory” is a soul that dwells in God, with the pure, disinterested love which does not seek self in the sweetness of His love; a soul that loves Him above all His gifts, and would have loved Him as much had it received nothing, which wishes well to the object of its tenderness. But how can we wish well to God, except by accomplishing His will, since this will ordains all things for His greater glory? Such a soul should surrender itself fully, blindly, to this will so that it cannot possibly wish anything but what God wishes.
‘The “praise of glory” is a silent soul, a lyre beneath the touch of the Holy Spirit from which He can draw divine harmonies. Knowing that suffering is a chord that emits still more exquisite tones, this soul rejoices at giving it forth, that it may impress the heart of its God more pleasingly.
‘The “praise of glory” is a soul that contemplates God in faith and in simplicity; it reflects His whole being, and is a fathomless abyss into which He can flow and outpour Himself; a crystal through which He can shine and view His own perfections and splendor. A soul which thus permits the Divine Being to satisfy within it His craving, to communicate all He is and has, is truly the “praise of glory” of all His gifts.
‘Finally, the “praise of glory” is one who is always giving thanks, whose acts, movements, thoughts, aspirations, while more deeply establishing her in love, are like an echo of the eternal Sanctus in the heaven of glory. The blessed rest not day or night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty… and, falling down, adore Him that liveth for ever and ever.” The “praise of glory” begins now, within the heaven of her soul, the task that will be hers for all eternity. Her chant is uninterrupted; she acts beneath the influence of the Holy Ghost, although she may sometimes be unconscious of it, for human weakness prevents souls keeping their attention fixed on God without distractions. She sings and adores perpetually, and has, so to speak, gone out from self and become absorbed in praise and love, in her passion for the glory of her God.
‘Let us, in the heaven of our soul, be a homage of glory to the Blessed Trinity. One day the veil will be withdrawn, and we shall be brought into the eternal courts; there we shall sing in the bosom of infinite Love, and God will give us the “new name” promised to him that overcometh. What will that name be? — Laudem gloriae.’
To summarise, then, we can say that the soul who seeks to truly be the praise of God’s glory seeks to accomplish His will in all things, to suffer in silence all that befalls it, to remain in simple faith that contemplates God in all things that happen, to give Him continual thanks for everything even the adverse events, to adore and praise Him as uninterruptedly as possible in this life, and finally to long for eternal life where such a dream can be fully fulfilled.
This, my dear Friends, is a much-needed reminder of the reason for which the Church exists. The Church exists in order to lead souls to Heaven. That’s all. There is nothing else the Church does. All other tasks are entrusted to the civil society. The Church alone has the task of leading souls to Heaven, and for this she is endowed by her Founder with all the means to do precisely that: the faith that she preaches, the sacraments she administers, the moral code that is indispensable to please God and save our souls.
So when we realise the treasure that is a soul in the state of grace, and that the life of such a soul is just the prelude to the beatific vision in which we shall see God as He is and enter fully into His divine life, then, and only then, can we understand this feast and celebrate it with proper veneration. A church building reminds us of that sacred temple, our heart, when it is in God’s grace. If we would be loathe to defile the temple of God, how can we not be loathe to defile the temple of our own body and soul through mortal sin?
In another magnificent text, St Elizabeth points out the secret of maintaining our souls in God’s grace: ‘We see the true value of things by the light of eternity. Oh, how empty all is that has not been done for God and with God! I beg you to mark all your doings with the seal of love; it is the only thing that lasts! … What a serious thing life is! Each minute is given us for the purpose of rooting ourselves more deeply in God, according to St. Paul’s expression, so that we may attain a more striking likeness to our Master, a closer union. The secret of realising this plan, formed by God Himself, is to forget, to forsake self, no longer making any account of it; to look upon the Divine Master and on Him alone; to receive joy or sorrow indifferently, as both coming from His love. This establishes the soul upon the summits where all is peace.’
Indeed, compared to God, nothing else matters. That is why she was able to say again: ‘I think that my mission in Heaven will be to draw souls to interior recollection by helping them to go out from self and to adhere to God in great simplicity and love; also to keep them in that silence of the soul which allows God to imprint Himself upon it and transform it into Himself’.
May St Elizabeth intercede for us and lead us deeper into the contemplation of the Blessed Trinity in our souls, as we await the unveiling of the vision of His glory in eternity. Amen.
