Consume Me

"Consume me" brings obsessions to mind. We might be consumed by a passion for justice. We might be consumed by a desire to lose weight, or be consumed by anger or revenge. To be "consumed" means that something takes over us: determines our actions, thinking, emotions. To a greater or lesser degree, at some point in our lives we have all been consumed by some ambition, emotion, or conviction. In this Sunday's gospel (John 2:13-22), Jesus is consumed by emotion (zeal) and action (purging the temple of what is foreign to its purpose),

Photo by the author.

This feast of the dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica (the pope's cathedral) in Rome might seem overstated in its prominence in the liturgical calendar, but it is truly a feast of of Life. The temple in Jerusalem was the seat of Israel's religious life, but Jesus announces an even more abundant life -- his body as a temple that will be raised up after three days. In a sense, then, this feast is a celebration of our own life and the Life we receive from God through the Church.

And that life is always communal. Pope Leo XIV, is his homily for the Mass for the Jubilee of Synodal Teams and Participatory Bodies, noted that "The very word “together” expresses the call to communion in the Church. Pope Francis reminded us of this in his final Message for Lent: '…to journey together. The Church is called to walk together, to be synodal. Christians are called to walk at the side of others, and never as lone travelers. The Holy Spirit impels us not to remain self-absorbed, but to leave ourselves behind and keep walking towards God and our brothers and sisters. Journeying together means consolidating the unity grounded in our common dignity as children of God.

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This feast day of our mother church in Rome calls us to a zeal that will consume us when we give our lives for others as Jesus did, and live the new Life given to us by the Father. Are we willing to choose this zeal that consumes us?