REFLECTION/HOMILY ON THE FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF ST. JOHN LATERAN BASILICA YEAR I 9TH NOVEMBER 2023

REFLECTION/HOMILY ON THE FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF ST. JOHN LATERAN BASILICA YEAR I 9TH NOVEMBER 2023

Ezekiel 47:1-2,8-9,12; Ps.46; 1Cor.3:9C-11:16-17; John 2:13-22

The Dignity of God’s Temple

Today, we celebrate the feast of the dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica. To dedicate something means to reserve it strictly for a particular purpose. Thus, dedicating a Church means that the Church has strictly become a house of prayer, a secluded place where men seek the face of God and find it. A dedicated Church ought not to be used for any other purpose. One question that readily comes to mind is: why is the dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica made a general concern? The answer is not far-fetched. This Basilica is “the Mother and Mistress of all the Churches in the city and in the world”. It is the Episcopal seat of the Pope and so it ranks even above St. Peter’s Basilica.

Consequently, this celebration, in a unique way, puts forth the four marks of the Church. It is because the Church is One that is why St. John Lateran Basilica is our collective Cathedral. What we are celebrating is its dedication, reminding us that the Church is Holy. Being the seat of the Holy Father, the successor of St, Peter, this celebration reminds us of our Apostolic origin as a Church. Again, St. John Lateran Basilica is not just the Cathedral of the Church in Rome; it is the Cathedral of all Cathedrals; and so, this feast is generally celebrated by the universal Church reminding us of her Catholicity.

We will loose the thrust of today’s celebration if we see it as a mere anniversary celebration. In the second reading of today, St. Paul tells us that we are God’s building. Our baptism was our dedication. So, today’s celebration calls us to reevaluate our commitment to our baptismal promises. St. Paul went on to say that our bodies are the temple of God. This contains so much eschatological truth. It is wrong theology to see the human flesh as something that has no eternal value and has nothing to do with our resurrection on the last day. On that day, our bodies too will resurrect but in a glorified form.

Therefore, a Christian must pay attention to the body. The body must not be used for sin because God’s temple ought to be holy. Proper care of the body will further negate drawings on it, immodest dressings, tempering of body parts and sizes for reasons that are not therapeutic, drug abuse, laziness, and so on. A healthy soul cannot exist in an unhealthy body. Take time to eat well, work well, exercise well, rest well, go for regular medical check-ups, and so on. Holiness entails these too.

In the gospel reading, Jesus cleansed the temple and restored it to its original purpose. This is something we should be doing. The people were guilty of turning the temple to a house of trade. We too are guilty of this when we trade with our bodies. Hunger and other human needs do not and should not constitute a reason for human trafficking, sales of babies, sales of body parts, and other forms of trading on the temple of our bodies. The dignity of the human body as God’s temple is priceless. We cannot trade our ticket for heaven for anything.

Today’s celebration also reminds us of the need to respect the structural temple of God. The Church building is not a place for noise making, chatting and browsing, display of one’s wealth and beautiful wears, eating or unnecessarily feeding children, etc. It is strictly a place of prayer. One who does not burning with zeal for God’s house, and is not bordered when late or absent from Church, may not be inspired to uphold the dignity of the temple of the human body.