Kamis, 09 November 2017. Pekan Biasa XXXI. Pesta Pemberkatan Gereja Basilik Lateran.

Renungan Katolik "Bahasa Kasih"
Kamis, 09 November 2017

Yeh 47:1-2,8-9,12
Mzm 46:2-3,5-6,8-9
1Kor 3:9b-11,16-17
Yoh 2:13-22

Pesta Pemberkatan Gereja Basilik Lateran

Rumah Tuhan

Ambilah semua ini dari sini, jangan kamu membuat rumah BapaKu menjadi tempat berjualan!
 -  Yoh 2:16

Ketika membaca bacaan Injil hari ini, saya teringat pekerjaan saya sepuluh tahun lalu.  Saya bekerja di sebuah perusahaan travel yang banyak mengurus perjalanan wisata rohani. 

 Karena pimpinan saya yang murah hati, saya sering diminta pergi mendampingi peserta.  Setiap kali perjalanan, kami juga membawa seorang imam sebagai pendamping rohani. 

Yang menarik yang selalu terjadi adalah bagian berfoto.  Zaman itu kamera HP belum secanggih sekarang, jadi masing-masing membawa kamera dan sibuk mengabadikan diri mereka.  Jelas para peserta tidak melakukan perjalanan seperti itu sesering kami sebagai pemandu wisata.  Karena itu, saya selalu berusaha mengajak mereka meluangkan waktu untuk berdoa di gereja-gereja yang kami kunjungi sebelum mereka sibuk berfoto-ria.

Banyak orang memandang gereja hanya sebagai bangunan.  Karena terlalu bersemangat untuk menjadikan gereja terlihat indah, sehingga kita lupa bahwa fungsi dasarnya, gereja adalah tempat untuk berdoa.  Kemegahan sebuah gereja tidaklah diukur dari bangunannya, melainkan seberapa banyak umat yang meluangkan waktu untuk masuk ke dalam dan berdoa di sana. Paling tidak, ini pendapat pribadi saya.  

Sudah menjadi tugas kita untuk menjaga suasana dalam gereja, untuk memberi kesempatan kepada orang lain yang ingin berdoa.  (An)

Apakah saya sering meluangkan waktu untuk menikmati waktu berdoa di dalam gereja?

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*Kamis, 09 November 2017*
*Pekan Biasa XXXI*
*Pesta Pemberkatan Gereja Basilik Lateran*
¤ Yeh 47:1-2.8-9.12
¤ Mzm 46:2-3.5-6.8-9
¤ 1Kor 3:9b-11.16-17
¤ Yoh 2:13-22
*"Aedificare vera Ecclesiae Ordinatio et Insignes"*
~ Membangun Gereja Sejati: Relevan dan Signifikan ~

  Inilah panggilan kita sebagai anggota _'Tubuh Mistik Kristus'_ (Gereja) untuk ikut menyucikan dunia.
  
   Mengacu pada bacaan lnjil hari ini, Yesus mengarahkan kita pada semangat persekutuan sebagai Gereja yang satu, kudus dan apostolik; motor penggeraknya adalah Roh Allah sendiri.

Disinilah kita dipanggil untuk *_mewujudkan iman_* kita dalam kehidupan nyata di tengah masyarakat.
Adapun tindakan-tindakan kecil dan sederhana sebagai _wujud-nyata iman_ Gereja yang semakin _relevan dan signifikan_ bagi orang lain, antara lain:
1. *Berbelas kasih*
2. *Berkompetisi*

1. *Belas kasih*
   Iman membuat kehadiran kita selalu baru dimana pun kita berada, kehadiran kita menjadi tanda sakramental, yaitu tanda kehadiran _Allah yang berbelas kasih._

Tindakan itu akan kelihatan dari sikap yang kita lakukan: _kejujuran, kebaikan hati, tidak membalas yang buruk, tanggung jawab dalam pekerjaan, dan perhatian pada masyarakat yang lemah, miskin, tersingkir, dan difabel._

   Disinilah kita benar-benar mewujudkan identitas kita sebagai pengikut Kristus.

2. *Berkompetisi*
   Kita _'berkompetisi'_ dalam kehidupan sosial bermasyarakat bukan untuk disanjung atau mendapat pujian, melainkan sebagai bentuk perwujudan iman kristiani kita.

   Kita adalah bagian dari masyarakat yang dengan sikap dan tindakan nyata, kita ikut menyembuhkan luka-luka dalam masyarakat, membantu memajukan mereka yang tertinggal, menyalakan harapan bagi yang menderita; menjadi pejuang untuk keadilan dan perdamaian, serta memelihara lingkungan hidup dan keutuhan ciptaan.

   Disinilah kita diajak untuk terus menerus menghadirkan Gereja yang berpengharapan, yang membuat semuanya hidup damai sejahtera.

   Saudaraku, marilah kita bersama-sama menjadi Gereja sejati: _Kumpulan Umat Beriman_ yang hidup dan yang memberkati, sehingga kita sungguh menghadirkan diri sebagai Gereja yang relevan dan signifikan bagi sesama.
  
Salam Kasih dan Damai Sejahtera Kristus senantiasa menyertai kita sekeluarga. Amin.

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Thursday, 9th NOVEMBER
Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
John 2:13-22

Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; you shall not make my Father's house a house of trade."

We are not used to seeing Jesus so upset: making a whip of cords, driving people and animals out of the Temple, pouring out coins and overturning tables…Jesus, who was patient and loving with everyone, including sinners, is angry today because of that lack of respect for God in His own Temple. Today is the anniversary of the dedication of the Basilica of St John Lateran (the Cathedral of the Pope), in 324, and is a good day to reflect on this.

Imagine going to the cinema and stuffing yourself with popcorn and fizzy drinks but without actually watching the film! That's what happened when people came to the Temple but didn't care about God. Still today, some can go to church and talk to everyone they meet except to God. Some people forget that the "house of God" is a house of prayer.

God is Really Present in our churches, but some people regard the Tabernacle as they would a nice painting or a statue. Jesus once lamented to St. Faustina: *"How painful it is to Me that souls so seldom unite themselves to Me in Holy Communion,"* He said, *"I wait for souls, and they are indifferent toward Me. I love them tenderly and sincerely, and they distrust Me. I want to lavish My graces on them, and they do not want to accept them. They treat Me as a dead object, whereas My Heart is full of love and mercy. In order that you may know at least some of My pain, imagine the most tender of mothers who has great love for her children, while those children spurn her love. Consider her pain. No one is in a position to console her. This is but a pale image and likeness of My love."*

Mary, House of Gold, may I always comfort your Son in the tabernacle, during the Holy Mass, with my presence and my prayer.

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Commentary of the day :

Lanspergius the Carthusian (1489-1539), monk, theologian
Sermon on the dedication of a church; Opera omnia, 1, 702f.

«You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you» (1Co 3:16)

The dedication we are celebrating today concerns, in reality, three houses. 

The first is the material sanctuary... Certainly, we are to pray everywhere and there is nowhere where one cannot pray. Nevertheless it is very fitting to have consecrated a particular place to God where all of us, we christians who make up this community, can meet, praise and pray to God together and thus more readily obtain what we ask for as a result of this common prayer, as it is written: «If two or three of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father» (Mt 18:19)...

The second house of God is the people, the holy community who find their unity in this church, that is to say you who are guided, taught and fed by the one shepherd or bishop. It is God's spiritual dwelling of which our church, this material house of God, is the sign. Christ built this spiritual temple for himself... It is a dwelling formed of God's elect, past, present and to come, gathered through their unity of faith and love in this one church, daughter of the universal Church and, in addition, one thing with the universal Church. When it is considered separately from the other, particular churches, then it is only one unit of the Church, as are all the other churches. Yet, taken altogether, these churches make up the one, universal Church, mother of all the churches... When we celebrate the dedication of our church, we are doing nothing else than reminding ourselves, in the midst of our thanksgiving, hymns and praise, in the goodness God has shown in calling this small group of people to know him...

The third house of God is each holy soul dedicated to God, consecrated to him by baptism, who has become the temple of the Holy Spirit and the God's dwelling place... When you celebrate the dedication of this third house, you are simply recalling the favor you received from God when he chose you so that he might come to live in you by his grace.

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