11.04.25 - Ark of Communion and Lateran Basilica
- tmaley
- Nov 6
- 14 min read
Northern Virginia Catholic Bible Study & Apologetics 11/4/25
Every Tuesday, 7PM-8PM. This meeting is a lecture/Q&A format. It is free.
Meetings on Meetup: www.meetup.com/catholicbiblestudy
Past classes are posted on our Catholic Catacombs Website: www.CatholicCatacombs.org
House rules/notes…
Our meetings/classes are on ZOOM every Tuesday, 7-8 PM. Sign up for Zoom notifications and to receive meeting reminders at www.meetup.com/catholicbiblestudy. Zoom ID: 861 1782 2081 Password: 406952.
RSVP Reminder: Please RSVP whether you are attending the meeting or just reading the Recaps afterwards. The more RSVPs, the more Meetup will give exposure to “Catholic Bible Study” – a good thing!
Questions. We encourage questions although we ask that you keep them on topic and brief. You can ask during the meeting, or in the chat box, or if you prefer you can email us through Meetup.com, or Ron directly: ron@hallagan.net.
Recaps. Within a day or two after each meeting, we will post the edited meeting notes of our discussions on our website, www.catholiccatacombs.org. Taylor will notify everyone when this is posted and provide you with a link.
Respectfulness. We will be discussing differences between Christian denominations and religions in general, and we seek to be respectful at all times. Protestants especially are our friends and brothers-in-Christ; in fact, I personally owe much of my return to the faith to them!
No politics. It would be easy for us to self-destruct, but that’s not our goal :). Our goal is to learn, understand, and apply the Bible and our Catholic faith to our everyday lives.
“The Chosen” TV series. All of us seek a relationship with Jesus Christ, which is not always easy. It can help if we have seen and heard Him. The Chosen series captures Jesus better than any show I have ever seen. Highly recommended.
Catholic Prayer & Fellowship. Are you interested in praying the rosary, etc. with other Catholics during the week? Follow fellow member Jason Goldberg at https://www.meetup.com/online-catholic-prayer-fellowship-and-spirituality/.
Cursillo. Interested in meeting weekly over coffee to discuss how God is involved in your personal and professional life? Join Cursillo (cur-see-yo). Initiation is a 3-day retreat at Mission Hurst in Arlington. For men’s groups, contact Ron (ron@hallagan.net) and Jennifer Pence (Jennifer.pence@gmail.com) for women’s groups.
Our Bible Study is a combination of Exegesis and Apologetics.
Study and interpretation of Scripture A reasoned defense of the faith
Format: Each week of the month has a repeating theme, as noted below.
Wk 1: Gospel Week – we study several Gospel stories, especially difficult ones!
Wk 2: Bible Week – we are working our way through the Bible. We are studying the prophets!
Wk 3: Questions and Survey Topics chosen by Members:
Fathers of the Church, Heresies, Church Councils 2) Near Death Experiences 3) Jesus prefigured & prophesied in the OT 4) Apparitions and modern miracles 6) What happens to pets after they die. 7) Prison ministry stories 8) Could you review of Plenary and Partial Indulgences again?
Wk 4: Apologetics:
Gen 1-3 (Creation Story, Adam & Eve, the Fall of Man, The Meaning of the Trees)
Faith and Doubt
Deeper meanings of the Mass
The goal of each meeting is as follows:
15 min Catholic topic/catechesis
15 min Upcoming Gospel reading
30 min Weekly topic/theme
1 hour
Taylor will send a link to everyone with today’s notes.
Also, the class is recorded if you want to listen to it anytime.
Reader for the day…
Opening Prayer
Dear Lord, thank you for joining us as we gather to study your Word.
Please expand our minds and our hearts so we may receive what you wish to teach us today.
We want to know you more and we invite you into our lives.
And as you taught us to pray together…
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Upcoming major holy days: Dec 8, the Immaculate Conception
Mass Times/Confession anywhere in the world: www.masstimes.org
Today’s Agenda
Gospel Reflection: Prefiguring the Ark of Communion
Gospel Reading #1 – I am the Bread of Life, John 6:47-58
Gospel Reading for Nov 9: : Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, The Cleansing of the Temple, John 2:13-22
Quotes of the Week from some of the most intelligent geniuses in human history…
What you see is the bread and the chalice; that is what your own eyes report to you. But what your faith obliges you to accept is that the bread is the body of Christ, and the chalice is the blood of Christ. This has been said very briefly, which may perhaps be sufficient for faith; yet faith does not desire instruction. – St. Augustine
The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life. – St. Thomas Aquinas
If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason only: Holy Communion. – St. Maximilian Kolbe
To understand prefiguring the Ark of Communion, we have to go waaay back to Exodus…
The Ark and the Tabernacle in the Desert, Book of Exodus
The Tabernacle refers to the whole space (150’x75’) as well as the tented holy place in the center.
Sacrifices take place where the smoke is. Then comes the “laver” for washing.
The center tent contains the Holy of Holies (and the Ark of the Covenant) and the Holy Place.
Notice how the Israelites live in tents all around the Tabernacle.
As they moved around the desert for 40 years, they would have to pack up everything and set it up again.
The Jews still celebrate the “Feast of Booths” (tents) every year in memory of this time.
A closer look at the Tabernacle is on the next page.
Bread of Life Discourse” at the synagogue in Capernaum.
John 6:47-51
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; but this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.
What is Jesus talking about?
Jesus is talking about his replacing/fulfilling/elevating the unblemished lamb of the first Passover in Exodus. Like every other thing Jesus prefigured, he elevates the first Passover from a temporal event (death “passed over” them) to an eternal event (“life passes over death”). Who recalls what John the Baptist said when he first encountered Jesus?
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!” – John 1:29.
These words Jesus used in the verses above were very unsettling to his audience. It sounded like he was speaking about cannibalism, which was strictly prohibited in the Torah.
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” – v52
To clarify, Jesus is a) speaking of his resurrected, glorified body that b) he will transform into bread and wine, but that does not change the meaning of his words. He is the Lamb of God, and he is sharing his sacrifice of himself with all of us, and the miracle of the Last Supper is putting his real presence into the bread & wine.
Given that Jesus often spoke in parables, if this entire dialogue was intended to be symbolic, then now would have been an ideal time for him to explain this symbolism to his audience, as he sometimes did with other teachings. Instead, incredibly, Jesus doubles down in his reply to them (verses 53-58):
Jesus replied to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have (eternal) life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have (eternal) life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Many of Jesus' disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?"
Because of this, many of Jesus followers returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. v66
That Jesus was speaking literally is confirmed by the fact that many followers decided to leave him. When non-Catholics deny the real presence in the Bread & Wine, they point to these passages and say that Jesus’ was speaking symbolically. If that were true, Jesus would have explained it, and/or the people would not have left for the very reason he was speaking literally.
This is one of those times that CS Lewis’ quote fits Jesus’ words perfectly:
Either Jesus was a liar, or he was insane, or He was the Son of God. – CS Lewis, Mere Christianity
Jesus’ audience not only murmured when Jesus spoke of eating his flesh. Earlier in Chapter 6, they complained when Jesus said first said he was from Heaven.
“Then the Jews murmured at him because he said, “I am the bread which came down from Heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from Heaven’”? – John 6:41-42
What does the murmuring of Jesus’ audience remind you of?
Exodus! How many times did the people “murmur” against Moses? It’s one of the reasons they had to spend 40 years in the desert. Moses in some ways prefigured Jesus, making Jesus the new Moses. And the people are murmuring again. Some things never change!
Back to John’s gospel… With the people beginning to walk away, would this not be yet another opportunity for Jesus to explain he was talking symbolically? But he doesn’t. In fact, he turns to his own apostles and asks them if they wanted to leave, too!
67 Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Would you also like to leave?"
68 Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
Do you not think the Apostles were worried about how Jesus was going to accomplish what he was saying (eat my flesh, drink my blood)? Of course they were. Wouldn’t you? That makes Peter’s response a complete and total act of faith, similar to Abraham taking Issac up to the mountain to sacrifice him. Abraham had no idea why God asked him to sacrifice Issac, but he trusted that God would somehow make things right. Similarly, the Apostles had no idea what Jesus meant and what was going to happen, except that Jesus would somehow make it work out! Will we choose to be like Peter, or the murmurers?
How does Jesus work it out?
Jesus already prefigured the Manna and the Bread of the Presence in Exodus; now he puts his presence into them, making the Bread from Heaven and Bread of His Presence real.
The Last Supper
We know the unblemished lamb at the first Passover prefigured Jesus, the Lamb of God, whose will pay for our sins.
Now we know that the Manna and the Bread of the Presence that we saw in the Exodus Tabernacle also prefigure Jesus’ Last Supper. Jesus enters personally into the Bread and Wine – which we now call the Eucharist.
Holding up the bread, Jesus said, “Take and eat, for this is my body.”
Holding up the cup of wine, Jesus says, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” – Mt. 26:26-28
These words are as literal as his words were to the people at the Capernaum Synagogue. In fact, the Last Supper is the fulfillment of those words at the synagogue. I would image the Apostles were also appreciative of Jesus’ actions.
As we know, these Last Supper words are not finished until the cross and resurrection events; but does it end there?
No, the reason for all of this was for us. We are the end-game. Jesus didn’t do the Last Supper as a one-off – what would be the point of that?
When he said, “Do this in memory of me,” the Greek translation for memory is “anamnesis,” which means to re-enact, to make present again.
Jesus actually is the first to repeat it on Easter Sunday. Who recalls the event?
Jesus walks with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. They don’t recognize him at first, but then he breaks bread with them just like at the Last Supper – he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to them – and they finally recognize Jesus as he disappears before their eyes. His point of doing this? He was in the bread. It was the first Mass!
Catholics have celebrated Jesus’ real presence in the Bread and Wine since the Last Supper to the present day.
There are only two possible reasons for not believing in the Real Presence:
If we decide to be one of the murmuring disciples who rejected Jesus in the Capernaum synagogue.
If we believe there is no God and therefore no such thing as miracles.
Lastly, why did Jesus initiate his presence in the Bread and Wine at the Last Supper?
For us to receive Him. When we receive Holy Communion, we contain the Bread of Life, the Ark of Communion. God comes full circle since the Fall of Man to bring us back into full communion with Him.
Why do we call the little house/repository for the consecrated Communion/Eucharist in every church?
A tabernacle!
Because that is the New Covenant version of the Ark of the Covenant, which was kept in the Tabernacle.
Because it contains Jesus, who is a) the Word of God (vs 10 Commandments), b) the Bread from Heaven/Eternal Life (vs the Manna and Bread of the Presence), and c) the High Priest of the Temple (vs the staff of the High Priest, Aaron).
What does the Church say of the Eucharist?
The Eucharist is not just heavenly food, but a participation in the love between the Father and the Son. In the Eucharist, the sacrifice of Christ is made present, and the sacrifice of Christ is the fullest expression of the love of the Father and the Son.
Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome
Sunday’s Gospel Reading: The Cleansing of the Temple, John 2:13-22
Many people think that St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican in Rome is the seat of the Pope – the Pope’s Cathedral. It is not. The is St. John’s Lateran in Rome, also called the Lateran Basilica.
The Lateran Basilica was built by Constantine in the early 4th century after legalizing Christianity in the Roman Empire for the first time. Dedicated to Christ the Savior in honor of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, it has been the home cathedral of the Pope and the liturgical heart of the Church for 1600 years.
As to the deeper meaning of this feast day, let’s look at the first reading for the Mass and see if we can connect the dots.
Ezekiel 47:1-2,8-9,12
The angel brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the façade of the temple was toward the east; the water flowed down from the southern side of the temple, south of the altar.
He led me outside by the north gate, and around to the outer gate facing the east, where I saw water trickling from the southern side.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail. Every month they shall bear fresh fruit, for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary. Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine."
What does all this mean?
This is a vision of Ezekiel. Water is flowing from the side of the Temple throughout the desert land and recreating Eden all over again. It is an eschatological vision.
What is eschatological?
It means end times. Eschatology is the study of Judgment Day and heavenly things/times.
What might you say this prefigures?
Could it be Jesus?
Let’s take a look the Gospel reading.
John 2:13-22 The Cleansing of the Temple
Context: It would be normal to wonder why the Church chose the “Cleansing of the Temple” reading to connect the vision in Ezekiel and the Lateran Basilica, especially since this reading was given on the Third Sunday of Lent earlier this year. The reason is because of the ending of the passage. For that reason, we will not “exegete” the entire reading; just the ending.
Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, "Take these out of here,and stop making my Father's house a marketplace."
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?"
Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up."
The Jews said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?"
But the temple he was speaking of was his body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.
Now bear with me and let’s fast forward to the New Testament.
1. Blood… Jesus ushers in the New Covenant beginning with these words at the Last Supper:
This is my blood of the New Covenant, which is being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Mt. 26:28)
2. Water… We enter into this Covenant by our Baptism. Jesus showed us himself when he was baptized by John the Baptist. Then he said this to the Pharisee Nicodemus:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5)
Then he gave these instructions to the Apostles at his Ascension”
Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Mt 28:19
Referring back to Jesus’ statement in the reading above, Jesus lets us know the Temple is changing. His body will be the new Temple.
“…the temple he was speaking of was his body.” (Jn 2:21)
Do we have any other connections to the “water” coming out of this “new” temple?
“But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out” – John 19:34.
It was Jesus’ sacrifice, his blood, that made the water of Baptism possible for us. But these two things – blood and water – are also inseparable. It is His blood that gives life to the water, which gives life to us. Notice everything Jesus does connects the physical and spiritual – the Incarnation, his miracles, the sacraments, the Last Supper, even us humans!
What is given to us as a result of Jesus’ blood and the waters of Baptism?
Heaven! Paradise, which was the description given to Ezekiel in his vision. The water from the Temple is the water of Baptism from Jesus.
What does this have to do with the Lateran Basilica?
As St. Paul makes clear, we are all now part of the Body of Christ; each of us is the “Temple of the Holy Spirit.” The Church where we gather and worship is a symbol of this Temple, as Jesus is present in all of them in the Eucharist and Tabernacle in every church all over the world.
As I mentioned in the beginning, the oldest of these churches is the Lateran Basilica, dedicated to Jesus Christ in honor of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. Because it was the first and also the seat of the Pope, it is in a sense the “mother church” of all our churches around the world.
The feast of its dedication commemorates the solemn consecration of this mother church, symbolizing the unity of the universal Church with the See of Peter.
Closing Prayer:
Communion Prayer
Lord, You are the Vine and we are the branches.
Your Life and Spirit flow through us.
You are in me, Lord, and I am in You. We are one.
Communion is union.
Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed are thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
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