Thursday, 11/9/17
Emperor Constantine married one of Rome’s
wealthiest women, and she brought him an immense dowry. Part of that dowry was
one of Rome’s seven hills: the Lateran hill. Towering over Lateran Hill there
stood a rectangular structure that was reserved as an audience hall
for visiting monarchs. It was called a basilica, following on basilous,
the Greek word for a king. The front wall featured a semi-circle alcove where
the throne waited for its rightful occupier.
When Constantine became a Christian, he gave
the Lateran Basilica to Pope Silvester as his own church, and down to the
present it is seen as the pope’s personal church.
st. John Latean is the pope's own People love that reading from Ezekiel in which
a stream bursts out from the temple’s east side giving life to trees and fish
as it descends to where it turns the ocean into fresh water. We see that that
stream as a metaphor for all the grace that people take away with them from
church, carrying life out to all with whom they come in contact.
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