The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

11-09-2025Weekly ReflectionFr. Albert

Today, we recall the Basilica Saint John of Lateran, the Pope's own church, the Cathedral of Rome. The Lateran was chosen as the Cathedral Rome long before Saint Peter's was built. It is where the Papacy was housed for centuries before moving across the Tiber to where Vatican City now stands. The Gospel about the purification of the temple of Jerusalem is apt for today's feast. The Jerusalem temple serves as a symbol of the church of today. in the twenty-first century. It conveys both the idea of the temple's Sacredness and also the need for constant purification of the structures of our church.

The first Christian emperor, Constantine, had a church built on land that once belonged to the Laterani family. That 4th century church was the precursor of the present Basilica. The Baptistery attached to the present Basilica is where emperor Constantine was baptized. This Basilica now serves as the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. It is the Pope's own church in his capacity as Bishop of Rome. For that reason, it has the title, "mother and head of all the churches of the city and the world" and that includes our own parish church where we are gathered for prayer. While our church is much smaller than the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, both are equally monuments to people's faith.

In the second reading, Paul tells the Christians in Corinth, '' You are God's building, you are God's temple". more fundamental than the building we call church are the people we call church. The building we call church is there to help us to express our identity as a people of faith called to worship God through Christ in the Spirit. if our worship is to be authentic, the shape of our worship must become the shape of our lives. our whole lives are to be a movement towards God, through Christ and in the Spirit.

In the Gospel, Jesus was passionate about cleansing the temple. Jesus drives out the money changers because they had turned a holy place into a marketplace. For Jesus. The temple was not about profit or prestige; it was a meeting place between God and humanity. our churches must always remain faithful to that purpose. Every parish, every chapel, every cathedral - from St. Lateran to our own local parish - is called to be a house of prayer, a fountain of living water, a place where God's mercy and grace are offered and received.

Just last week, on All Saints Day and All Souls Day, we celebrated the invisible communion that binds the Church militant on earth, the church suffering in purgatory and the Church triumphant in heaven. Today's feast complements that mystery by reminding us of the visible communion that binds us together: the sacraments, the apostolic faith, the leadership of the Bishop of Rome and the concrete structures that embody our unity. Having a sacred space matters. A physical church provides a place of encounter. it creates an environment that shapes us, that tells us ; here, you belong to God and God is with you and God is calling you to a higher place to His very Self.