The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

Ezk. 47:1-2.8-9.12, 1 Cor. 3:9-11.16-17, Jn 2:13-22. Today, we celebrate the Lateran Basilica built by Emperor Constantine on the Lateran Hill in Rome about 324 AD. The feast was celebrated in honour of "The mother and head of all the Churches of the City and the World". When a physical Church is dedicated to God, it becomes the house of God for a permanent use. The Church becomes a visible sign of God’s dwelling amidst the people. Every Church is also a reminder that each one of us, by virtue of our baptism, is a temple of God and God dwells within us. Thus, we may speak of a correlation between the physical Temple and the spiritual Temple that our hearts are: How we treat the Church is indicative of how consecrated our hearts are to God. Jesus saw the Temple becoming a filthy marketplace filled with merchants selling oxen, sheep, and doves and money changers, instead of being a place of prayer and devotion to God. In response to the authorities who challenged Him, He responds pointing to himself as “the Temple.”

In today's first reading, Ezekiel saw living waters flowing from the Temple and nourishing life around it. Such is the fountain of living Spring, which is the Temple of the Spirit, nurturing life and producing much fruit of the Spirit in the world. Today our Church brings to mind the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, the Pope’s own parish Church, the major Archdiocese Church of Rome. The Lateran is the Pope’s Cathedral, since the time of emperor Constantine. Later, the papal household moved first to the Quirinal palace, and finally to where Vatican City now stands. Today's Gospel presents the purification of the Temple of Jerusalem as a prove serves as a symbol of the pilgrim Church. It conveys both the idea of a sacred space and the need for constant purification of the Church’s structures.

May the God of all wisdom, sanctify us and all the members of our family so that we may see the Heavenly city, the new Jerusalem! Amen!! Good morning and have a pleasant day!!!