Liturgical Colour : White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Universal Church celebrates the great Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, also known as the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, the great Church of God dedicated to the Lord, the Most Holy Saviour Himself, and then to St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist in the area known as the Lateran in Rome. This great Church of God, the House and Temple of God’s Holy Presence is unique and special, the greatest among all the churches in all of Christendom and the whole world. And why is that so? That is because the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran is the place where the Cathedra of the Pope as the Bishop of Rome is located at, the place that is therefore the Cathedral of the Pope, the Mother Church of the Diocese of Rome.

Many people throughout the world often have this misconception that the Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican, another great church building and indeed the largest and greatest in size in all of Christendom is the Cathedral of the Pope. This misconception is further reinforced by the prominence which the Basilica of St. Peter played in most of the important and large scale Papal occasions and events, being situated within the Vatican City over which the Pope is the Sovereign, and being built atop the tomb of St. Peter the Apostle, who was the first Pope and Vicar of Christ. However, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran has precedence over that of Basilica of St. Peter, which is undoubtedly the second most important of all the churches after the Lateran Basilica itself, because first of all, it was the very first church to be publicly built in Rome after the centuries of persecutions of Christians by the Roman state.

It was built at the site known as the Lateran Palace, which was a prominent site in the centre of the city of Rome during the Roman Empire era, being also part of the fortress belonging to the Imperial Guards. Then, after Emperor Constantine the Great triumphed against the forces of his enemies, and as he attributed his victory and triumph to the Christian God, he donated that land and place to the Church, and with the tacit support and funding from the Emperor and the state, therefore a great church of God was built in that site, the very first of the Basilicas of Rome, older than even the Basilica of St. Peter. And it was in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, dedicated on this date to the Lord, the Most Holy Saviour, the ninth day of November, exactly seventeen centuries ago, in the Year of Our Lord 324.

This great Church of God is truly a place of great history and a place truly worthy and honourable to worship God, having been set aside and consecrated to God, dedicated to Him forever to be the place worthy of the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Divine Worship. And as the seat of the Pope, the place of his Cathedra, as the Mother Church of all Christendom and the whole world, thus, all of us rejoice together in the anniversary of this great church’s dedication, and we give thanks to God for all the great graces that He has bestowed upon us through this most wonderful House of God, and the many wonderful things and the many souls that had been saved thanks to the use of this great House of God in the propagation of the Christian truth and faith.

In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel, we heard the details of the great heavenly vision received by Ezekiel in which he saw the glory of God and His majesty, and the great Heavenly Temple where God’s Holy Presence is enthroned in. This passage, which is always used for the Dedication of churches, highlighted the importance of the place to be made as the place of the worship of God, the dwelling place of the Lord Himself, because the Lord Himself will dwell in those houses, and be present in our midst, and from the Heavenly Temple in Ezekiel’s vision, great flood of life-giving water poured forth, reminding us of the presence of God in our midst and in our lives as the life-giving eternal Spring of Life, through Whom all of us shall be brought into the assurance of eternal life and salvation.

From our alternative first reading passage, that is also the second reading for this celebration as a Solemnity, taken from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Church and the faithful in Corinth, we then heard the exhortation of the Apostle to the faithful people of God, and to all of us that we must take good care of our own body, our hearts, minds and souls, our whole being, because each and every one of us whom God had called and chosen, and become members and parts of His Church, we are all part of the Body of Christ, and the Temples of His Holy Presence, the Temples of the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Lord our God, the Master of the whole Universe Himself is dwelling within us, and consequently we must make sure that we are truly worthy of Him, for we are all the Living Church, the living stones of the Temple of God, and much as we have consecrated great churches, like that of the Lateran Basilica, we too have been consecrated to God.

Then, in our Gospel passage from the Gospel according to St. John, we heard about the moment when the Lord Jesus came to the Temple of Jerusalem not long before the time of the Passover when He Himself would finally embark on His last mission, His Passion, suffering and death. But at that time and moment, He cast out all the merchants and money changers peddling their business at the courtyard of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. Those people were doing things that were necessary in order to allow people from the various parts of the Jewish diaspora to exchange their money and goods to worship and offer sacrifices at the Temple of God, which could only be done with lawful money issued by the local Jewish authorities. However, what was wicked is the fact that many of those merchants and money changers overcharged the pilgrims and profited greatly from their works.

That was why the Lord Jesus became angered and cast out those wicked people, cleansing the Temple of God from a place of business and wicked deeds, purifying the place to be truly what it was meant to be, as a place where the people of God may come to encounter the Lord, His Presence in their midst. And when He was confronted by the chief priests and the elders, the Lord also foretold the coming of His Passion and death, referring to the Temple that would be destroyed, that is none other than His own Body, to be broken and shared for each and every one of us, and then to be restored and resurrected in glory on the third day, to prove to everyone that He is truly the Saviour, the Holy One of God, God Himself coming to dwell amongst us.

For the Lord is truly so great and holy, that places used for His sacred worship and dwelling place, where the Holy Eucharist, our Lord Himself present in the Body and Blood, in His whole Being and Divinity, must indeed be blessed, hallowed and made worthy of His Holy Presence. In the past, only the finest materials were used to craft the Ark of the Covenant, upon which the Law of God was placed, the bread of the manna and the staff of Aaron, and God’s Presence would descend upon the Ark itself on occasions, and no one could touch the Ark, because it was so hallowed, and anyone who touched it ended up being struck down and dead. In the same way, God prepared Mary, His mother with the special grace and sparing her from the taint of original sin, and remaining in the state of fullness of grace that she may bear Him within her.

In the same manner therefore, all of us must strive to live a truly holy and worthy life, one that is truly acceptable by the Lord and honourable in all things, distancing ourselves away from sin and from all the things that can lead us astray away from the Lord and His salvation. Each and every one of us are reminded that as Christians, we are all the ones whom God had called and chosen, and as His people, His dwelling place and Temple, all of us are reminded to keep ourselves holy and consecrated to Him at all times, just as we had done at the time of our baptism. Like the Lord Jesus, Who cast out all those wicked merchants and money changers, who profited unjustly from their business and efforts, causing sufferings to the pilgrims, we too should cast out from our hearts and minds, from our Temple, the wickedness of evils and sins around us.

And for those who know the details and the events unfolding during the Consecration and Dedication of a church, they can clearly see the parallel between what happened in the dedication of a church and in our Christian baptism, as we all receive the holy water, the light of Christ, the clothing with the white garment and incensation just as the same is done to the church to be made worthy for Divine worship. We have been marked at baptism, and truly clothed with the glory of God, descending upon us from Heaven, God Himself dwelling in us, His Holy Spirit being sent and bestowed on us, much as He has come to dwell in the churches, in the places of Divine worship. And we must also not forget that we have all received the Lord Himself, in His Most Precious Body and Blood in the Eucharist, Him truly being present in us and within us all.have also received the Lord Himself in the flesh, through the Eucharist, much like the Holy Eucharist being stored in the Tabernacle. We are the Tabernacles of the Lord’s Holy Presence, and we should always therefore keep ourselves holy.

We must not allow ourselves to be snared any further by sin, or defiled by all the wickedness of the world. The Lord had made it clear that we ourselves are also to be hallowed and be made holy and worthy of His Presence, and if we allow our wickedness and evils to defile this Holy Temple of God, then we will have to account for it before the Lord. That is why, we are reminded that we should always be exemplary and committed in the living of our faith and lives as Christians so that we will always be full of God’s grace and love, and that we will always be fully attuned to Him and His will, obeying Him in all things and at all circumstances in our lives. We should also do our best to continue to glorify God by our lives, in each and every one of our actions.

Let us all therefore commit ourselves anew to the Lord from now on, to dedicate and consecrate ourselves anew to Him, renewing the commitment we have made at our baptism, to be truly dedicated and worthy of God at all times, and to be holy and honourable as the great houses and churches of God, particularly the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran which dedication we commemorate today. Let us always remind ourselves and one another that we are God’s Holy Temple, the Houses of His Holy Presence. May the Lord continue to help, strengthen and guide each and every one of us so that we may always remain firm and strong in our constant devotion and commitment to God, to be ever faithful and good in everything we do in our lives, for the greater glory of God. Amen.