I am standing at the entrance of the piazza of St. Peter’s in Rome, and someone next to me says, pointing to the basilica: “What’s all this got to do with the humble Jesus of Nazareth?”

And I say to him in reply: “Everything. It has everything to do with the humble Jesus of Nazareth!”

All you need do, of course, is to recall Jesus before Pilate, Jesus in the most desperate situation of His life: at best, a pathetic figure. And He is asked by the Roman authority if He be a King. “I am a King”, He answered. A statement one would think bordering on madness, or at least severe delusion.

And yet... And yet, He is a King. Because He said so. And He is the Son of God. For He said so. He is God Almighty, Lord of Heaven and Earth.

And I said to my neighbor in front of St. Peter’s, “And that magnificent mass is a pathetic endeavor to say of Jesus that He is the Son of God.”  True enough.  How do you express a belief in the divinity of Christ?

You do it anyway you can: in word, in song, in rite, in performance, in art of whatever kind. Look around you. How do men want to be reckoned significant? They build big houses: mansions, palaces, estates. These say something. Egyptian Pharaohs built pyramids lest they be forgotten. Former Presidents build libraries and museums and centers commemorating their deeds in a handful of years in the White House. People write books, climb mountains, etc.

Every diocese has at least one splendid church. And that is the cathedral. The diocese may have many parish churches, perhaps most of them of no great account. But: there is the cathedral.

The President lives in a splendid house, has a private jet, is treated the rest of his life with honors quite special. What else can you do?

And if the Church is everywhere in the world, and it is, it is also among the poor. Go anywhere and find works of mercy.

We need explicit expression of love for Christ as God, so that we can keep alive a faith that sees Christ and God in everyone.

Sometimes a church is the only beautiful thing the poor have. And the love of the poor for the Lord is surely some of the most beautiful worship He receives.

If symphony, opera, ballet, museums, and art forms of every sort are essential to man because man is a spiritual being, so the beauty of worship in a beautiful structure is basic, world-wide, all through time.

We did not give Christ the title of King. He did. For He is a King. He does reign. He has a Kingdom. To give expression to that can be difficult. We are a poor people, helpless in trying to say something that cannot be said.

What can you as a monk do for a King? You can honor Him. You can serve Him. You can love Him. And you do. Yet we are so limited in all that.

Hence, we build churches, monasteries. We create a form of life. It involves where we live, how we live, what we eat, what we wear, what we do. And the whole is a way of making love. What does it have to do with Jesus of Nazareth? It has everything to do with Him. We take what we are. What we have, what we can do. And we make love with it. It is all we can do. It is all we can do.

Ask anyone: “How do you make love?” It is as good an answer as any to say: We built St. Peter’s.  Or a monastery.  Or a gatehouse.

That Jesus of Nazareth is a King, we know and believe. And we are pledged to serve Him in His Kingdom. In your own heart, in your brother, in the brethren, in the house, the place, the time that is ours. And all of it has everything to do with Jesus of Nazareth!