Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

Today's Scripture

Today we celebrate an unusual feast, namely, the “Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome.” While normally our feasts celebrate people or events in the lives of people, today’s feast actually commemorates a building. The Basilica of St. John Lateran is the pope’s home parish. While we usually associate the pope with St. Peter’s in Vatican City, it is here that the pope has his official ecclesiastical seat, or “cathedra.” The building itself has a long and fascinating history, which stretches back to the early centuries of Christianity.

And indeed, one thing we can take from this feast is that in our faith, buildings do matter. The gospel reading from John shows Jesus angry at those who had made a marketplace out of the temple in Jerusalem. It is a righteous anger, for Jesus is justified in being angry at those who would malign a place of worship by seeking their own profit there. For Jews, including Jesus, the temple was a special place of God’s presence, a place that was holy. Jesus was rightly offended that the temple was not being kept sacred.

But when he is asked about his actions, Jesus responds with a reference to himself. Jesus tells the people that his sign is “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19). John explains that Jesus was “speaking of the temple of his Body” (Jn 2:21). In other words, Jesus is pointing toward himself as a special place of God’s presence. Jesus is God, God who dwelt among us, but the people of the time failed to appreciate God’s presence in the temple and God’s presence in Jesus.

St. Paul takes this imagery of the body as temple and applies it to all Christian believers. With Jesus Christ as the foundation, all Christians have God’s spirit within the temples of their bodies. For this reason we are called to keep our bodies in reverence, acknowledging them as a special place where God resides. 

So we have here a mix of images: God’s presence in the Jerusalem temple, God’s presence in the person of Jesus, God’s presence in each of us. All of these images relate back to St. John Lateran. This building is important because it is the mother church of all Catholic churches, representing unity in worship. Jesus is present in the Basilica in the Eucharist. The Spirit of God is present in all those believers who worship there. Buildings matter in our faith, particularly because they are a special meeting place between God and humanity. It is in churches that we gather to do what we are most particularly called to do, that is, to worship God. When we worship God as a gathered Church in a special building designed for that purpose, we acknowledge that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.

The other image that we have in today’s readings is that which comes from the first reading of Ezekiel. This is a vision that describes a heavenly temple, and when we read it in the context of our other passages, we can see that our lives on earth are preparing us for our lives in heaven by giving us a foretaste of that future. The temple brings life, providing nourishment in the form of food and water. It is in worship that we are strengthened and sanctified. 

So, buildings matter because worship matters. We honor St. John Lateran today inasmuch as it is a symbol for the united worship of the Church who cherishes the presence of God in the Eucharist and in ourselves, and looks forward to when we can share completely in that experience of worship which defines us. Today, let us pray for our home parishes, that they may be places of worship that train us for eternal life.

- Maria Morrow