Body of Christ

The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Feast of Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, 09 November 2020
Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12 >><)))*> 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17 >><)))*> John 2:13-22

Glory and praise to you O God our Father who had sent us your Son Jesus Christ to establish his Body among us, both as the Church made up of his people and made of stones. As we celebrate the Feast of the Dedication the Cathedral of Rome, the Basilica of St. John Lateran, we pray also for Pope Francis, all bishops and priests, and all the faithful who make us the Body of Christ.

May our temple of stones be a symbol of the living Church, the Christian community, your Building among us as St. Paul reminds us today.

Let life flow like waters from the vision of Ezekiel in the first reading from our Church and give life to its members especially the sick and the poor, the marginalized and the forgotten.

Dearest Jesus, help us draw inspiration from the beauty and harmony of your beautiful churches despite our many flaws and sins to form a unity in you in the Holy Eucharist we celebrate day in, day out in our sacred buildings to proclaim your glory and majesty.

At the same time, as we strive to follow your will in building a spiritual temple of people who worship in truth and in spirit, may this feast remind us also to take special care in keeping your house in order where we meet you in our liturgy. Guide us with the Holy Spirit to make every sacred building a living temple of your love, a church of the poor. Amen.

Everyday I hold your Body for every-body to see saying again your words on the night before you were betrayed: "Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body, which will be given up for you."

THIS IS MY BODY. We have studied and learned theology of your Body but it was only lately after I have held someone's body with a malady so sick, so weak, and untidy have I truly felt your Body. The nobility and beauty, the awe and wonder of holding your Body dear Jesus came to me after I have given up my own body to some-body in need of my body.

Oh, how I felt your Body next to me after I have held another body; it was just the tip of my fingers touching you but as I looked at you I felt you in my whole body filling me with your mystery unfolding daily in the liturgy; why did I not see, was it due to apathy, when some-body comes to me and treats him a no-body?