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Dedication of the Lateran Basilica (Nov 9)

November 09, 2025

Fr. John Colacino C.PP.S.

Introit

COLLECT

God our Father,
from living stones, your chosen people,
you built an eternal temple to your glory.
Increase the spiritual gifts you have given to your Church
that your faithful people may continue to grow
into the new and eternal Jerusalem.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

FIRST READING Ezekiel 47.1-2, 8-9, 12

I saw water flowing from the temple and all to whom that water came were saved. A reading from the book of the prophet Ezekiel. 1 The angel of the Lord brought me back to the entrance of the temple; there, water was flowing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the temple faced east; and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. 2 Then the angel brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and the water was coming out on the south side. 8 He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh. 9 Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once these waters reach there. It will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes. 12 “On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

SECOND READING 1 Corinthians 3.9b-11, 16-17

You are God’s temple A reading from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians. Brothers and sisters, 9 you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

GOSPEL John 2.13-22

Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. @ A reading from the holy gospel according to John. 13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 The people then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 They then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But Jesus was speaking of the temple of his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

CATENA NOVA

In this building of the Church, there must also be an altar. I think that if those of you, disposed and eager for prayer, offer petitions and prayers of supplication to God day and night, you will become the living stones for the altar which Jesus is building…. Therefore, those who are able to pray with one mind, one voice and one spirit, are perhaps worthy to form together one altar, where Jesus may offer his sacrifice to the Father. Let us strive to agree among ourselves and to have one mind and voice. May we never quarrel or act from vainglory. But may we remain united in belief and purpose. Then even we may hope to become stones fit for the altar. (Origen of Alexandria)

We are gathered together to celebrate the dedication of a house of prayer…. The work we see complete in this building is physical; it should find its spiritual counterpart in your hearts. We see here the finished product of stone and wood; so too your lives should reveal the handiwork of God's grace…. He it was who inspired in his faithful people the will to build this house of prayer; he stirred up their desire and gave them his help. He awakened enthusiasm among those who were at first unconvinced, and guided to a successful conclusion the efforts of men of good will. So God, who gives to those of good will both the desire and the accomplishment of the things that belong to him, is the one who began this work, the one who has brought it to completion. (St. Augustine of Hippo)

What we do here in the church requires a pure heart, not special garments; what we do outside requires great dedication…. Of what use is it to weigh down Christ’s table with golden cups, when he himself is dying of hunger? First, fill him when he is hungry; then use the means you have left to adorn his table…. Once again, I am not forbidding you to supply these adornments; I am urging you to provide these other things as well, and indeed to provide them first. No one has ever been accused for not providing ornaments, but for those who neglect their neighbor a hell awaits with an inextinguishable fire and torment in the company of the demons. Do not, therefore, adorn the church and ignore your afflicted brother, for he is the most precious temple of all. (St. John Chrysostom)

My fellow Christians, today is the birthday of this church, an occasion for celebration and rejoicing. We, however, ought to be the true and living temple of God…. And if we think more carefully about the meaning of our salvation, we shall realise that we are indeed living and true temples of God. God does not dwell only in things made by human hands, nor in homes of wood and stone, but rather he dwells principally in the soul made according to his own image and fashioned by his own hand…. My fellow Christians, do we wish to celebrate joyfully the birth of this temple? Then let us not destroy the living temples of God in ourselves by works of evil…. Whenever we come to church, we must prepare our hearts to be as beautiful as we expect this church to be. (St. Caesarius of Arles)

Today we celebrate Church. We celebrate a glorious feast. But what is it that we celebrate when we do this? We say that we are celebrating God’s Temple. We say we are celebrating the City of the Eternal God. We say that we are celebrating the Bride of Christ. But if we think carefully that means we celebrate ourselves. I say this with both awe and reverence. We are Christ’s Bride, God’s Temple, and the City of the Eternal God. But we are all these things in the heart of our God. We are all this in God’s grace and by God’s election. (St. Bernard of Clairvaux)

I Caterina, servant and slave of the servants of Jesus Christ and your poor wretched unworthy daughter, am writing to you in his precious blood. I long to see you the sort of true gentle shepherd who takes an example from the shepherd Christ, whose place you hold…. Ah, father, peace, for love of God, so that all these children may not lose the inheritance of eternal life! For you know that God has placed in your hands the giving and the taking away of this inheritance as your kindness pleases. You hold the keys, and to whomever you open it is opened, and to whomever you close it is closed. This is what the good gentle Jesus said to Peter, whose place you take. (St. Catherine of Siena to Pope Leo XI)

As Christ himself descended to earth from heaven, so too his Bride, the holy church, originated in heaven. She is born of the grace of God, indeed descended with the Son of God himself; she is inextricably bound to him. She is built of living stones; her cornerstone was laid when the Word of God assumed our human nature in the womb of the Virgin…. Hidden from the entire world, the heavenly Jerusalem had descended to earth. From this first joining in betrothal, there had to be born all the living building blocks to be used for the mighty structure: each individual soul awakened to life through grace. The Bridal Mother was to become the mother of all the redeemed. Like a spore from which new cells stream continually, she was to build up the living city of God. (St. Edith Stein)

HOMILY

Omnium ecclesiarum Urbis et Orbis mater et caput. “The mother and head of all the churches of Rome and of the world.” These words, inscribed on its facade, greet visitors to the pope’s cathedral church of St. John Lateran, dedicated this day by Pope Sylvester I in 324. Inside the church you’ll find the Chair of St. Peter from which the pope, as Bishop of Rome, “presides over the whole assembly of charity” (Ignatius of Antioch) — the Catholic, or Universal, Church.

It’s a magnificent place, St. John Lateran. I attended Holy Thursday services there once. The pope, John Paul II, celebrated the Mass. It was moving to see him, just a few feet away from me, kneel to wash and kiss the feet of twelve priests, enacting in symbolic way the pope's most glorious title: “Servant of the servants of God.”

I even went back for the Easter Vigil. When the time came for the blessing of water we processed to its famous baptistery, and as we were sprinkled, it was a bit like the prophet Ezekiel when he had his vision of the temple. For the Lateran in Rome, like the temple in Jerusalem was for the Jews, is a center from which the one faith of the Church has flowed to the four corners of the earth: “the mother and head of all the churches.”

But we must take care to remember that a church, even a church like the Lateran, is but a symbol: a symbol of us — "the Church” — and not the other way around. We sometimes forget that as we gather in buildings dedicated to the worship of God.

So for a moment imagine such a beautiful church where you’ve felt God’s presence most keenly. Imagine entering the sanctuary with light flowing into the church through colored windows. But remember, those windows are a symbol of the light of Christ flowing through human eyes enlightened by faith. Imagine the pulpit where Scripture is proclaimed. Yet remember, the ambo is but a symbol of ears receptive to the Word of God. See the baptismal font where people are washed in the water of rebirth. Still, we are all fountains teeming with the new life of grace. See then the place in a church set apart for the sacrament of penance. And remember how we are all agents of reconciliation and God's mercy. Notice the statues or icons of Christ, Mary and the saints in such a church serving as reminders we are all a people holy unto the Lord recast in the image and likeness of God.

Imagine also the paten holding the bread and the chalice the wine used for the Eucharist. Imagine the altar and the tabernacle on which that bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, later reserved for the sick and the adoration of the faithful. These too are symbols of our lives offered in union with Christ's sacrifice and of our own bodies as dwelling places of the Divine. And now hear Paul’s words anew: You are God's building…Do you not know that you are God’s temple?. . . [And that] God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple (cf. II). So the feast of the dedication of a church is not so much about the structure, however grand, as it is a feast of all who gather there.

In a recent homily Pope Leo reminded us of these things. Echoing the Second Vatican Council, he told the congregation

the Church is the visible sign of the union between God and humanity, where God intends to bring us all together into one family of brothers and sisters and make us his people: a people made up of beloved children, all united in the one embrace of his love…. where relationships do not respond to the logic of power but to that of love. The supreme rule in the Church is love. No one is called to dominate; all are called to serve. No one should impose his or her own ideas; we must all listen to one another. No one is excluded; we are all called to participate. No one possesses the whole truth; we must all humbly seek it and seek it together….recognizing that truth is not possessed, but sought together, allowing ourselves to be guided by a restless heart in love with Love….

[W]e must dream of and build a more humble Church…a Church that does not stand upright…but bends down to wash the feet of humanity; a Church that does not judge…but becomes a welcoming place for all; a Church that does not close in on itself, but remains attentive to God so that it can similarly listen to everyone.

May the Lord grant us this grace: to be rooted in God’s love so that we may live in communion with one another and be, as a Church, witnesses of unity and love. (October 26, 2025)

To which we all ought to say a hearty, "Amen."

INTERCESSIONS

For Pope Leo, the Bishop of Rome, all bishops, priests, and religious together with all the faithful, that we may remember always that the Church is first and foremost people, and that we are her living stones, based on Christ himself, who is the cornerstone.

For greater dedication to the Church among our community, and among all who gather in the mission houses of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, that we may we see the Church not merely in terms of bricks and mortar, but as the living body of Christ, which grows through holiness of life and to which we renew our dedication.

For those who have left the Church, for those who no longer gather to celebrate the Eucharist, and for those who are unable to attend Mass due to infirmity or lack of transportation.

For all who hold public office in our country, that they may understand and act upon their duty to protect the legitimate rights of all men and women.

For all believers who lack a church building, who are facing persecuted, or who suffer in exile, that in His mercy God would grant them a beautiful and secure place in which to worship Him.

For the sick, and those who care for them, may they know the healing presence of Christ through the ministry of his Church.

Almighty and eternal God, fill this place with the gift of your holy presence and extend your hand to all who call upon you. May your word here proclaimed and your sacraments here celebrated strengthen the hearts of all the faithful. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen. (ICEL; 1998)

OFFERTORY ANTIPHON

O Lord God, in the simplicity of my heart I have joyfully offered all things and I have beheld with immense joy your people gathered here. God of Israel, preserve this good intention, O Lord God.

OFFERTORY HYMN

Christ is made the sure foundation,  And the precious cornerstone,  Who, the two walls underlying,  Bound in each, binds both in one,  holy Zion’s help for ever,  and her confidence alone.  

All that dedicated city,  Dearly loved of God on high,  In exultant jubilation,  Pours perpetual melody,  God the One in Threefold glory,  Singing everlastingly.

To this temple, where we call thee,  Come, O Lord of Hosts, today;  With thy wonted loving-kindess Hear thy servants as they pray;  And thy fullest benediction  Shed within its walls for ay.  

Here vouchsafe to all thy servants  Gifts of grace by prayer to gain,  Here to have and hold for ever,  Those good things their prayers obtain,  And hereafter in thy glory,  With thy blessed ones to reign.

Laud and honor to the Father,  Laud and honor to the Son,  Laud and honor to the Spirit,  Ever Three, and ever One,  One in love, and One in splendor,  While unending ages run. Amen.

COMMUNION ANTIPHON

CLOSING HYMN

Thy hand, O God, has guided  thy flock, from age to age;  their wondrous tale is written,  full clear, on every page;  thy people owned thy goodness,  and we their deeds record; and both of this bear witness;  one Church, one Faith, one Lord.   

Thy heralds brought glad tidings  to greatest as to least;  they bade men rise, and hasten  to share the great King’s feast;  and this was all their teaching,  in every deed and word, to all alike proclaiming  one Church, one Faith, one Lord.   

Through many a day of darkness,  through many a scene of strife,  the faithful few fought bravely,  to guard the nation’s life.  Their gospel of redemption,  sin pardoned, man restored,  was all in this enfolded:  one Church, one Faith, one Lord.   

And we, shall we be faithless?  shall hearts fail, hands hang down?  shall we evade the conflict,  and cast away our crown?  Not so: in God’s deep counsels  some better thing is stored;  we will maintain, unflinching,  one Church, one Faith, one Lord.

Thy mercy will not fail us,  nor leave thy work undone;  with thy right hand to help us,  thy victory shall be won;  and then, by all creation,  thy name shall be adored,  and this shall be their anthem:  one Church, one Faith, one Lord.

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