Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome
(Ezekiel47:1-2.8-9.12; I Corinthians 3:9c-11.16-17; John
2:13-22)
Some wonder whether the Old Testament is necessary for Catholics. They may quote St. Paul who says that the Law
does not apply to those baptized in Christ.
However, the Church has insisted that the Old Testament is part of God’s
revelation and must be revered.
There are three types of laws in the Old Testament: ritual, liturgical,
and moral. The ritual laws, forbidding
the consumption of pork and shellfish and prescribing ablutions, Jesus himself
abrogated. He said that it is not what
goes into a person that defiles him or her but what comes out. The moral law of the Old Testament,
highlighted by the Ten Commandments, has remained operative. And the liturgical laws have been assumed in
the customs and traditions of the Church.
We see this accommodation in today’s readings.
The Jerusalem temple is the principal focus of Old Testament
liturgy. The Book of Leviticus
especially lays out many norms for the rites carried out there. Now these practices are being followed in
Catholic churches like that of St. John Lateran, the pope’s cathedral, in
Rome. Catholic rituals using vestments, oil,
and incense imitate what the Jewish law stipulates. When we come to church, we should realize
that we are placing ourselves among three millennia of God’s people. We, like our Jewish and Christian
predecessors, have been called by God to worship Him in very specific ways.
