Built on Love
(Is.25:6-9; Rom.5:5-11; Lk.7:11-17)
Every year on November 9 the Church celebrates the Dedication of the Basilica of St John Lateran.
Why remember a place that most of us will never visit? It’s because this feast is about so much more than a building.
Officially, its name is the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour and Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Lateran, and it’s one of the four highest-ranking churches in the world. The other three are St Peter’s, St Paul Outside the Walls, and St Mary Major. All are in Rome.
St John Lateran is the only archbasilica in the world, and this means that it ranks higher than any other church. Why? Because it’s the Pope’s cathedral. Many people think he’s based at St Peter’s Basilica, but he’s not.
The Lateran Basilica is the official ecclesiastical seat of the Bishop of Rome, for that’s where his cathedra (throne) is located. So, it holds a special place as the mother church of the Diocese of Rome and indeed the entire Catholic world.
This feast, therefore, is firstly a celebration of unity. By honouring the Lateran Basilica, we’re honouring our connection to the Pope, the successor of St Peter. And we’re reminded that we are not isolated in our own parishes or dioceses, for we all belong to the one universal family of faith.
This unity is reinforced at every Mass when the priest always drops a fragment of consecrated Host into the chalice of precious Blood, and prays quietly that Holy Communion will bring eternal life to all who receive it.
This ancient ritual, known as the commingling, represents the reunion of Christ’s Body and Blood, previously separate at the consecration, but now combined to symbolise the living, risen Christ.
But this gesture also signals the unity of all the faithful. For just as all local churches are united to the one universal Church through the Lateran Basilica, so too are all who receive Jesus in the Eucharist.
Now, we also celebrate this ancient building today because of history. During its first 300 years, the Church was severely persecuted, and Christians could only meet secretly, in private homes or the catacombs. After Constantine became the Roman emperor, his mother Helena converted to Christianity and in 313AD he legalised the faith.
Ten years later he built a cathedral on land once owned by the Laterani family, and this is now the Lateran Basilica. It was consecrated by Pope Sylvester I, and for a thousand years it served as the Church’s administrative heart, papal home, and the venue for five major ecumenical council gatherings.
But today’s feast also points to something much deeper. In our second reading, St Paul says to the Corinthians, ‘Don’t you know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? …God’s temple is holy and you are that temple.’
In other words, by celebrating this Basilica the Church is reminding us that individually and together, we all serve as living temples of God. And just like the original Temple, we all have a duty to serve God through worship, sacrifice and prayer.
This is the heart of today’s celebration.
However, as Luke reports in today’s Gospel, some temples are misused. When Jesus finds that the Jerusalem Temple has become a noisy bazaar, he is furious. The Temple is sacred, for that’s where God lives, and yet it has been overrun by greedy merchants.
Jesus cracks a whip and tells them to get out. The tables are turned, the moneychangers leave and order is restored.
So, in celebrating the Lateran Basilica we remember that churches are holy, not because of their statues or stones, but because they are living signs of God’s presence. They are sacred temples where God’s people gather, where the sacraments are celebrated, and where Christ is truly present.
At the same time, this Basilica reminds us that individually, we are all called to serve as living temples, because God resides in us, too.
This is why we celebrate the Basilica of St John Lateran. It is an edifice and a community built on love.
But let me ask you: Does your life truly reflect the holiness of the God who dwells within you? And are you a beacon of love in our world today?
As St Caesarius of Arles, a bishop in the early Church, once said: ‘Celebrate the feast of the Church, for you yourselves are the temple of God.’