Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome

Today's Mass Readings

When most people think Vatican, they think St. Peter’s Basilica. We associate the papacy and the Church with "the greatest of all churches in the Christian world – St. Peter’s. Isn’t it strange then that today the church all over the world celebrates the dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran? Most Catholics think of St. Peter’s as the pope’s main church, but in reality, St. John Lateran is the pope’s cathedral. The Basilica of St. John Lateran is the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome of which the Pope is the bishop. In it sits the official chair of the pope.

The history of this basilica is a testimony to the antiquity, the length, the breadth and the depth of the Catholic Church. The basilica is built over the ruins of a Roman fort established in 163 AD. When Constantine defeated Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge he demolished the fort and the remaining palatial structure was occupied by the Laterani clan who served as the emperor’s administrators. The palace fell into Constantine’s hands when he married his second wife Fausta, the sister of Maxentius. Constantine donated the palace to the Bishop of Rome around 313 AD. It was extended and converted into the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome. Pope Sylvester I dedicated the Basilica and the adjacent Lateran Palace in 324, declaring both to be Domus Dei or "House of God." Every pope from Miltiades occupied the Lateran Palace until the reign of the French Pope Clement V, who in 1309 decided to transfer the official seat of the Catholic Church to Avignon, France. During the Avignon papacy, the Lateran Palace and the basilica began to decline. It faced two destructive fires an earthquake and the ravages of war. The first basilica having been destroyed, it was rebuilt in the tenth century by Sergius III and consecrated by Benedict XIII in 1726. Today, this late baroque structure stands as a testimony to the enduring faith of Christians who live their Christian commitment as Catholics. It is indeed, as Pope Sylvester called it, the “House of God.” What is the significance of the Feast of the dedication of St. John Lateran? The significance is symbolic. It symbolizes what God intended for God’s people from the very beginning when God chose the Israelites. Beginning with the first Temple that Solomon built in about 1000 BC, today’s readings take us through its destruction, through the raising of Christ as the New Temple, to each Christian being a temple of God. The Temple was the center of the Jewish nation. But in 587 BC the Babylonians razed it to the ground and took the people into exile. The Jewish people never imagined that God would let the Temple be destroyed. Today’s first reading from the book of Ezekiel was written when people were still in exile. In this vivid image of the Temple and the water flowing out from beneath the threshold, the prophet his vision of a new temple. In fact, this Temple was rebuilt when the people returned from the exile. Tragically, though, in today’s gospel reading, we have Jesus already predicting that the Temple would be destroyed again. As Jesus predicted, the Romans destroyed it in 70 AD. The Temple lays destroyed in Jerusalem even today.

But as Christians we are not celebrating the feast of a destroyed Temple. We are not even celebrating the physical building of the basilica in Rome. We are really celebrating the spiritual reality of the Church that Christ founded. Yes, Christ is the New Temple of God. In and through Christ who sanctifies us, we ourselves become living stones of the temple. And God intends for the Church to be the Temple from where salvation flows like a river.

I would like us to reflect on the reality of the Church/Temple on three levels:

a) When I think of the Church as a Temple and water flowing from the Temple, I think of the two thousand years of the Church’s presence in the world. From being a small persecuted community for the first 300 years of its existence, it is now the single largest and longest surviving voluntary conglomeration. No other human organization has ever achieved this. Today, I think of the length and the breadth of the Church as over the centuries brave, selfless and zealous missionaries took the gospel message to every corner of the world. I think of the depth of the Church, offering deep spiritual realities in prayer, doctrines and morality to all humanity. I think of the contribution of the Church to the social life – its works of justice and charity. I think of the Church’s contribution to culture through music, literature and art. It has brought through all these ways the knowledge and salvation of Jesus Christ to the entire world. However, we acknowledge these realities of the Church with much humility. Human sin has tainted the church and caused much pain too. There are times, it seems to me, that Christ has used the whip, as today’s gospel reading describes, to cleanse the Church whenever it strayed from its calling. Surely, the abuse crisis comes to my mind. But every crisis was also an opportunity for the Church to purify itself and indeed become the “House of God.”

b) I also want to reflect on the temple we are in. I think of the beginnings of this parish. It was originally where the gas station is now. I think of the hard work of its pioneers, both pastors and people and their extraordinary commitment. I also think of the thousands of people who over the decades have come to know Christ and expressed their faith in and through this parish. Some of them are still here with us. And I think of the people today, who live out their faith in this Temple. Today, this temple, this church, this parish stands on the crossroads of an important transition. God calls us today as the parish of Immaculate Conception to be the presence of God in this time and space. Let people who search for meaning, for purpose, for true worship, immaterial of class, race, nationality, come through these doors. To those who come in, you will find nothing but the presence of God and the warmth of human embrace. Let the poor and the rich, the saint and the sinner, loved and unloved, wanted and the unwanted come to this sanctuary. As one body we will hold hands and with one heart worship the One God and witness that God is alive in our midst. There is no other reason for our existence and neither should there be.

c) Finally, I want to reflect upon what Paul says in today’s second reading to each of his community members. He says, “Do you not know that you are the Temple of the Holy Spirit?” Both the Church at large and this parish can only be as holy every individual member is. The church can only be what each of us makes it to be. Our individual lives, then, are more precious than we can ever imagine it to be. Just like the basilica of St. John Lateran, dedicated to be the “house of God,” at baptism each of us is dedicated to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. Time, history, life experiences and human weaknesses do take its toll but we can never forget our calling – to individually be the house of God. Let us give our calling some prayerful thought this week.

In conclusion let me say that as Catholics we are a privileged people. We are the house of God because each Sunday Christ comes to dwell in us in the Eucharist. So here we are, ready once again to be transformed by Christ into the dwelling place of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the House of God. Let us welcome Christ into our temple and may Christ dwell there forever. Amen.

- Fr. Satish Joseph