DEDICATION OF THE LATERAN BASILICA November 9, 2025

Readings: Ezekiel: 47,1-2,8-9,12 1 Corinthians 3.9b-11,16-17   John 2.13-22

The Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome symbolizes a crucial turning point in the long and remarkable history of the Catholic Church. The basilica was once a palace belonging to the Lateran family, dating back at least to the time of the persecution of Emperor Nero (A.D. 54-68). Emperor Constantine made a gift of the building to Pope Melchiade about the year 311. Before Constantine’s rule, Christians were a persecuted sect struggling for survival within the hostile Roman Empire with its temples dedicated to the worship of many gods. The Lateran palace became the papal cathedral and the papal residence for over a thousand years, despite being ravaged by the Vandals, by fires, and by earthquakes. Our parish churches may rightfully look to this cathedral church of the Bishop of Rome as their mother church. Its feast of dedication also may remind us of our spiritual bond with our brothers and sisters in many countries where Christians may not worship in public and are persecuted as an outlawed sect.

In today’s gospel Jesus refers to the temple in Jerusalem as “my Father’s house.” That the invisible God manifests his presence in visible signs recognizable by faith is at the heart of biblical revelation. The opening hymn of Genesis celebrates the creation of the entire universe as the construction of a beautiful temple in which God dwells and may be glorified. God continues the revelation of divine presence not only in the universe and in the events of history, but in human structures — in the ark of the covenant leading the Jewish people through the wilderness, and in the temple, Solomon built in Jerusalem.

The reading from Ezekiel uses the image of the stream flowing out from the temple, becoming a river and bringing life wherever it flows. I would like to apply this for ourselves. Wherever we go, we are church, wherever we are, we can bring life. Just imagine the world, in so many ways a desert place, being watered by our compassion, our works of charity, justice and peace, our faith, hope and love, freely and universally shared. St. Paul writes that we are God’s building, the temple of God in which the spirit dwells.

                 Fr. Terry