Reflection for Sunday 9th November, 2025

Dedication of the Lateran Basilica ‐ Feast

Dedication of Lateran Basilica (1 Cor 3:9-17 & John 2:13-22)

It takes a very important Feast to replace the usual Sunday celebration, so let us begin with some explanations. Basilica is a Greek word for a King’s residence. A Catholic Basilica, such as Knock, is a church with very special privileges.

In the fourth century, the Roman Emperor Constantine, the first Christian Emperor, gave the Pope a tract of land on the Lateran Hill to build a church. Ever since, the Lateran Basilica is regarded as the Mother and Head of all the churches throughout the world. Even though the Pope changed residence to St. Peter’s Basilica centuries later, the Lateran Basilica remains the Mother and Head of all churches. It is fitting that this Feast is celebrated in every local church today.

“Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Today’s Second Reading (1 Cor 3:9-17) The New Community Temple

St. Paul wrote his Letters some years before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. There were no church buildings then but there were Christian communities. When writing about the church as a building, one uses the lower case for church. But when we write about the Christian community, the capital letter is used, Church.
Paul told the Christians in Corinth, “You are God’s building.” There were divisions among the Christian community in Corinth which Paul wanted to solve. “Didn’t you realise that you were God’s temple and the Spirit of God was living among you? If anybody should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy him, because the temple of God is sacred, and you are that temple.”

Today’s Gospel: (John 2:13-22) Replacement of the Old Temple

John’s Gospel was written many years after the total destruction of the Jerusalem temple. The action of Jesus in clearing the temple was a symbol of the replacement of the temple religion after the Resurrection of the Lord. It is highly unlikely that one man would be allowed to overturn the tables of these hardy traders.
“What sign can you show us to justify what you have just done?”
“Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.”
“He was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words that he had said.”

What is the Church?

The Church is never a place, but always a people.
Never a sheep-fold, but always a flock.
Never a sacred building, but always a believing assembly.
The Church is you who pray, not where you pray.
A structure of brick or timber
Can no more be the Church than your fine clothes can be you.
There is no gathering in this world as sacred as your community,
And how you treat others is how you treat God.