Wine of the Kingdom

On the way to today's humble station church, St. George in Velabro, I passed Michelangelo's impressive stairway that ascends the Capitoline Hill (the citadel of ancient Rome, overlooking the Forum). The stairway symbolically "turned its back" on the ancient Forum, and shifted Rome's sights onto the new "Forum" of Christendom – St. Peter's Basilica. Two basalt lions stand guard at the bottom of the stairway and flow with the waters of an aqueduct. On major civic holidays, such as the naming of a new pope, the fountains were made to flow with red and white wine (free for the taking!) as a symbol of the power and benevolence of the papal rulers of the day.

The church of St. George in Velabro was, in a way, the humble beginning of that story. It was established in the 5th century, in the shadow of the Forum, as a place that provided material assistance to the workers and poor people living near the docks and markets of the Tiber River.

Today, wine no longer flows from the mouths of the Capitoline lions.  But the "new wine" that Jesus desires to fill our wineskins with still flows anew (Mt 9:14-17). In particular, the "wine" of his divine life is given to us in the sacrifice of the Mass, where the bread and wine are transformed into Christ's body and blood and given to all, rich and poor alike, as food and drink that will sustain us (Jn 6:53-58).

Though political power may come and go, the true power of God's Kingdom – the power of love – will never fail (1 Cor 13).