Dedication of the Lateran Basilica (2025)
Although it might be something easy for most of us to overlook, the anniversary of the dedication of a Church is actually ranked as an important celebration in the life of a parish. And, within a diocese or archdiocese, even the dedication of the diocesan cathedral should be celebrated each year, in every parish, as a feastday (incidentally, the anniversary of the dedication of our Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist is February 9).
With that in mind, it should be no surprise that we would also celebrate the anniversary dedication of the cathedral of Rome—the “mother and head of all the churches in the city and world”—with a special celebration, as well.
This historic church was built by the emperor Constantine in the year 324. The church was rededicated in 1724 after extensive renovations and this celebration was added to the Church’s calendar at that time.
Now, one of the things that we have to remember when we celebrate the anniversary of the dedication of a church—even one as significant as the Basilica of St. John Lateran—is that we aren’t really celebrating a brick-and-mortar reality. This is because the physical building of a church is, first and foremost, a symbol for us—the People of God. And it is that truth that offers us the insight we need to really break open the Readings proclaimed on this feast.
First, we’re being reminded today that one of the joys of our Catholic Faith is that we live locally but we belong to a worldwide Church made of many languages and cultures. This unlocks for us the meaning within Ezekiel’s vision of the Temple.
The Temple was important for the Jewish People because they believed it was the dwelling place of God on earth. This meant that it was God’s presence and not the worship performed there that made the Temple holy. The waters that Ezekiel described as flowing from the Temple are a symbol of that Divine Presence, overflowing the boundaries and walls of that sacred space. He tells us that those waters not only cleanse and refresh, but they are waters that have the powers to purify the stagnant waters of the Dead Sea, allowing living creatures to live within them and to thrive. What was once a place of death, is now a space of life and productivity.
Beyond that, not only are the waters that flow from the Temple itself transformative, but the fruits they produce share in that transformative power. Ezekiel’s vision presents God’s saving power going out from the Temple in concentric circles: first the water from the sanctuary itself; then whatever the water touches; and, finally, the fruits produced by that which the water has touched. The power of God’s presence radiates throughout creation.
But even as important as the Temple may have been, it was only a building. In his first letter to the people of Corinth, Paul insists that we are the Temple of God and as the dwelling place of God in the world, we become a manifestation of that Divine Presence in the world today.
God’s Spirit dwells in us, making us—the believing community—the living temple of God.
This is a grace that is pure gift, but it also becomes a challenge for us because we have to be sure that we are living our faith individually and as a Church in such a way that we don’t obscure that Divine Presence. We have to live and pray and work in such a way that the glory of God will shine out from us.
It is the community of believers and not buildings, however beautiful or historic, that is the place where prayer and sacrifice are offered to God. It is in and through who we are as a people of faith that the world will experience God’s saving presence.
In the end, the Readings for this feast provide us with two pictures of the temple of God—two characterizations of the community of believers. First, there is that powerful vision of Ezekiel with those flowing waters transforming everything in their path. As the water flowed from the Temple, so graces flows form the temple that is the People of God.
But then there was also the picture of the Temple presented in the Gospel, and it is a sobering one!
The Temple had become a marketplace; the community had become so preoccupied with the business of the Temple and the outside world that it had lost its identity. In a fury, Jesus upsets the worldly order that had been established and drives it out of the house of God.
The Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica asks us which image more closely characterizes the community of which we are a part.
Are we able to refresh what was once brackish? Can we transform the wilderness into a place teeming with life? Can we make all things productive and fruitful? Can we heal what has been threatened with death? Is this community—is the Church as a whole—truly the presence of God in the world today?
Or… are we simply a site where rituals are performed but the concerns of God take second place? Will the zeal of Jesus be unleashed on us? Do we need to be overturned so that we can be reformed and renewed?
As we celebrate this feast, May God give us the grace to remember that we are the dwelling place of God, that we have been dedicated, and the Spirit of God has made us a living temple!
O God, who from living and chosen stones
prepare an eternal dwelling for your majesty,
increase in your Church the spirit of grace you have bestowed,
so that by new growth your faithful people
may build up the heavenly Jerusalem.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
Homily prepared for Our Lady of Divine Parish (St. Casimir Church) and Old St. Mary’s Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
